ROSELLI 

Oval  World  Map 


S^y® 


Dr.  George  E.  Nunn 


"LI  B  RARY 

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1  THE  ROSELLI  OVAL  WORLD  MAP,  By  George  E.  Nunn. 

30  pp.  (12  x  9^4)  Illustrated.     500  numbered  copies.     Privately  Printed. 
Quotations  from  reviews: 

"Dr.  Nunn  has  given,  with  copious  references  (in  of  them)  a  careful  account  of  the 
general  progress  in  map-making  down  to  about  1550.  .  .  .  The  printing  of  both  maps 
and  letterpress  is  very  well  done." 

London  Times  Literary  Supplement,  Nov.  i,  1928. 

"Dr.  Nunn's  capable  essay  is  one  of  real  scientific  importance.  It  will  be  immensely 
interesting  to  students,  and  collectors  of  Americana  will  find  it  indispensable." 

Notes  on  Rare  Books,  New  York  Times,  Sept.  16,  1928. 

".  .   .  well  and  attractively  printed.  .  .  .  this  scholarly  piece  of  work." 

American  Historical  Review,  July,  1929. 

Price,  $3.00 


2     PHOTOSTAT  (positive)  OF  THE  ROSELLI  OVAL  WORLD  MAP. 

*(Free  to  purchasers  of  No.  1,  upon  request.)  *Price,  $0.75 


3     THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  STRAIT  OF  ANIAN  CONCEPT,  By  George  E.  Nunn. 
32  pp.  (9  x  6)  Frontispiece.     200  numbered  copies.     Privately  Printed. 

Dr.  Nunn  traces  the  development  of  the  idea  of  a  waterway  separating  Asia  from 
America  as  finally  visualized  on  the  map  of  Bolognino  Zaltieri  MDLXVI. 

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WORLD         MAP 

Of    FRANCESCO     ROSELLI 

DRAWN  ON  AN  OVAL  PROJECTION  AND 
PRINTED   FROM  A  WOODCUT  SUPPLE- 
MENTING   THE     FIFTEENTH    CEN- 
TURY    MAPS      IN     THE     SECOND 
EDITION     OF     THE      ISOLARIO 
OF      BARTOLOMEO       DALI 
SONETTI.      PRINTED     IN 
ITALY     ANNO     DOMINI 
MDXXXII.     DESCRIBED 
BY  GEORGE  E.  NUNN 
FROM    THE    COPY    IN 
THE  COLLECTION  OF 
GEORGE  H.  BEANS 


Privately  Printed 

PHILADELPHIA 

1928 


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Respectfully  Dedicated  to  My  Friend 
R.  R.  Chase 


705838 


FIVE  HUNDRED  COPIES  PRINTED 

No.   HI 


Copyright,  1928,  by 
George  H.  Beans 


^Acknowledgment 


It  is  but  proper  that  I  should  acknowledge 
the  courtesy  of  Dr.  Nunn  in  contributing,  as 
a  labor  of  love,  the  fruits  of  his  research  upon 
a  subject  of  interest  to  both  of  us.  If  the 
printer  had  been  free  to  perform  his  portion 
in  a  similar  spirit  the  arrangement  would  have 
been  perfect.  As  it  is,  the  best  we  can  do 
is  to  offer  this  volume  at  cost  to  other  searchers 
for  the  truth. 

George  H.  Beans. 
Glenside,  Pennsylvania. 


THE  ROSELLI  OVAL 
WORLD  MAP 


NEARLY  forty  years  ago  Baron  Nordenskiold  passed  judgment  on  the  maps 
in  the  Isolario  di  Bartolomeo  da  li  Sonetti,  one  of  which  was  a  mappemonde 
by  Francesco  Roselli,  the  Florentine.  Nordenskiold  said  that  "although  the  maps 
in  the  work  of  Sonetti  are  very  insignificant,  yet  they  are  of  a  certain  interest  as 
being  the  first  printed  maps  of  which  it  is  expressly  stated  that  they  are  founded 
on  actual  measurements."1 

Recently  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum  have  printed2  another  map  of 
Roselli  bearing  the  date  of  1506.  The  monograph  accompanying  that  map  confined 
itself  to  a  very  brief  description  of  the  1506  map  together  with  an  alphabetical  list 
of  the  names  and  legends  found  thereon,  segregated  according  to  continents.  It 
has  seemed,  after  a  period  of  study,  that  Roselli  and  his  maps  are  worthy  of  a  much 
more  extended  treatment. 

Roselli  and  his  co-worker  Contarini  are  the  makers  of  the  first  printed  map 
now  known  showing  any  portion  of  the  new  world.  They  apparently  were  the 
first  to  make  a  world  map,  including  the  entire  360  degrees,  on  the  conical  pro- 
jection.3 Roselli  seems  to  have  been  the  first  cartographer  to  use  the  oval  pro- 
jection which  Ortelius  later  used  for  his  world  map.  The  Roselli  maps,  of  which  four 
remain,  appear  to  be  an  important  record  supplementary  to  the  La  Cosa  map  in 
regard  to  the  John  Cabot  voyage  of  1497.  The  Roselli-Contarini  and  the  Roselli 
oval  map  are  very  important  records  of  the  Columbus  fourth  voyage.  Finally,  these 
maps,  belonging  to  the  first  decade  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  are  a  most  important 
link  in  the  map  series  depicting  the  conflict  between  the  Columbian  and  the  Ptolemy- 
Behaim  schools  of  geography. 

This  monograph  proposes  to  deal  with  the  oval  world  map  Figura  &  Scrittura 
in  soma  di  tutto  lo  habitato  inserted  in  the  1532  edition  of  the  Isolario  of  da  li  Sonetti, 
a  map  which  Nordenskiold  says4  has  a  resemblance  to  the  oval  map  of  the  world 
in  Bordone's  Isolario  1528.  There  are  however  most  important  differences  between 
the  two  maps  which  give  to  the  Roselli  map  an  importance  not  noticed  by  Norden- 
skiold. The  Bordone  map  is  graduated  with  the  longitude  lines  at  20  degree  intervals. 


1  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Facsimile  Atlas  p.  37A.  Periplus  p.  1S6A. 

2  A  Map  of  the  World  designed  by  Gio.  Matteo  Contarini  and  engraved  by  Fran.  Roselli,  1506.  London,  1924. 

*  Edward  Heawood:  A  Hitherto  Unknown  World  Map  of  A.  D.  1506,  in  the  Geog.  Journal  Vol.  LXII  No.  4.    Oct.  1923, 
283-4. 

4  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Facsimile  Atlas  p.  36B  and  p.  37A. 

1 


GREATEST  PROBLEM  OF  EARLY  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY  GEOGRAPHY 

The  entire  360  degrees  of  the  earth's  circumference  are  accounted  for  in  18  intervals. 
Asia  is  drawn  after  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  concept.  The  right  hand  or  eastern  part 
of  the  map  indicates  an  open  sea  on    the  270th  meridian,  counting  the  Canary 


mp* 


Fig.  1.     BORDONE. 


COLL.  C.  H.  B 


meridian  as  the  first.  By  way  of  striking  contrast  the  left  or  western  portion  of  the 
Bordone  map  shows  the  terra  del  laboratore — modo  nouo  region  connected  and 
backed  up  against  the  same  270th  meridian  thus  apparently  indicating  the  270th 
meridian  line  as  the  shore  line  of  the  Eastern  Ocean  and  the  New  World.  This 
meridian  line  throws  us  at  once  into  the  greatest  problem  of  early  Sixteenth  Cent- 
ury geography — the  geographical  relation  of  the  Trans-Atlantic  discoveries  to  the 
lands  of  eastern  Asia. 

This  problem  may  be  understood  most  readily  by  tracing  the  conception  of 
eastern  Asia  through  its  several  phases.  During  the  early  part  of  the  Fifteenth 
Century  there  prevailed  a  type  of  map  of  the  known  world  apparently  derived  from 
the  Arab  geographer,  Edrisi,5  who  composed  his  book  on  geography  at  the  court 
of  the  Norman  king  of  Sicily  about  1150  A.  D.  This  map  is  distinguished  by  an 
Africa  that  faces  southern  Asia  on  the  south  side  of  an  Indian  ocean  bearing  some 
resemblance  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  whole  of  the  known  world  is  comprised  in 
a  space  of  a  little  less  than  180  degrees.  The  more  prominent  derivatives  of  the 
Edrisi  map  are  those  of  Marino  Sanuto6  1320,  Andrea  Bianco7  1436,  Johannes 
Leardus  or  Giovanni  Leardo  1448 8  and  1452. 9 


5  J.  Lelewel:  Geographie  du  Moyen  Age.  Atlas  plate  X. 

6  A.  E.  Nordenskidld:  Facsimile  Atlas  p.  51. 

7  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus  p.  19. 
"  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus  p.  61. 

9T.  Fischer:  Raccolta  di  Mappamondi  e  Carte  Nautiche  del  XIII  aj  XVI  secolo;  published  by  Ongania,  part  XIV 


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PTOLEMY 

In  the  meantime,  the  Geography  of  Ptolemy  had  been  made  generally  avail- 
able in  western  Europe.  Two  Greek  scholars,  Emanuel  Chrysoloras  and  Jacobus 
Angelus,  translated  not  only  the  work  but  apparently  also  latinised  the  maps.10 
The  translation  was  completed  about  the  year  1410.  The  Ptolemy  general  map  is 
included  in  the  Atlante  of  Andrea  Bianco11  1436.  The  influence  of  Ptolemy  is 
shown  in  the  coast  line  of  southern  Asia  on  the  Genoese  world  map12  of  1457  and 
the  great  world  map  of  Fra  Mauro13  1457-9.  On  both  of  these  maps  the  eastward 
extension  of  Africa  of  the  Edrisi  map  was  greatly  curtailed. 

Shortly  after  the  appearance  of  these  last  two  maps,  the  maps  of  Ptolemy, 
which  had  previously  circulated  in  manuscript  copies  alone,  began  to  be  widely 
distributed  by  frequently  printed  editions.14  The  scientific  basis  of  the  Ptolemy 
geography,  combined  with  the  Renaissance  reverence  for  the  work  of  the  ancients, 
gave  to  Ptolemy's  work  a  general  acceptance  that,  aside  from  the  portolan  charts 
for  the  Mediterranean,  almost  excluded  any  other  conception  of  geography  per- 
taining to  the  180  degrees  Ptolemy  had  assigned  to  the  known  world.  The  only 
modifications  of  Ptolemy's  map  before  1492  were  those  made  as  the  result  of  the 
activities  of  the  Norsemen.  A  further  modification  was  being  prepared  by  the 
adventures  of  the  Portuguese  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 

Ptolemy's  geography  gave  no  information  of  any  land  or  sea  beyond  his  180th 
meridian.  However,  Ptolemy  indicated  more  land  beyond  his  extreme  east,  and 
he  made  the  Indian  Ocean  a  closed  sea  by  joining  Africa  to  eastern  Asia.  The 
most  extreme  eastern  countries  known  to  Ptolemy  were  the  land  of  Serica  and  the 
Sinarum  Situs,  the  latter  bordering  the  Sinus  Magnus15  and  the  two  corresponding 
to  northern  and  southern  China. 

The  mediaeval  travelers  who  visited  the  Mongol  court  in  the  Thirteenth 
Century,  and  particularly  Marco  Polo  who  visited  Cathay  and  eastern  Asia,  were 
the  cause  of  an  interpretation  of  Asiatic  geography  that  was  fundamental  to  the 
work  of  Columbus.  This  interpretation  is  best  known  to  us  through  the  globe  of 
Martin  Behaim  made  in  1492,  although  the  interpretation  probably  was  not 
original  with  him.16 

Fundamental  to  this  interpretation17  was,  first,  the  180  degrees  of  the  previously 
known  world  as  shown  by  Ptolemy,  and  second,  the  account  of  the  westward 
journey  of  Marco  Polo18  to  the  provinces  of  Mangi  and  Tebet.  This  journey  is  de- 
scribed as  one  to  the  west  from  Cambaluc  (Pekin)  and  taking  a  period  of  132  days. 
At  the  end  of  this  time  Marco  Polo  said  that  he  was  "very  near  India."  Allowing 
a  rate  of  20  miles  a  day  for  the  132  days  travel  would  make  a  distance  of  2640 


10  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Facsimile  Atlas  p.  9. 

11  T.  Fischer:  Racoolta  di  Mappamondi  etc.,  part  IX. 
14  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Genoese  World  Map  of  1457. 

ls  M.  F.  de  Santarem:  Atlas  compos6  de  Mappemondes  etc.,  No.  43-48. 

14  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Facsimile  Atlas  pp.  9-28. 

15  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Facsimile  Atlas   plate  I.   Geo.  E.  Nunn:  The  Lost  Globe  Gores  of  Johann  Schoner.   A  Review 
The  Geog.  Review.  Vol.  XVII  No.  3  July,  1927. 

16  E.  G.  Ravenstein:  Martin  Behaim,  His  Life  and  His  Globe,  p.  64. 

"Geo.  E.  Nunn:  The  Lost  Globe  Gores  of  Johann  Schoner  1523-1524.    A  Review.    Am.  Geog.  Review.    Vol.  XVII 
No.  3  July  1927. 

18  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo.  Two  Vols.  London  1921.  Vol.  2  pp.  3-109. 


MARCO  POLO 

miles,  which  would  equal  approximately  53  degrees  at  the  rate  of  50  miles  to  a 
degree  on  the  41st  parallel.  Behaim  apparently  used  this  data  on  his  globe  combin- 
ing Ptolemy  and  Marco  Polo,  so  that  up  to  the  180th  meridian  east  of  the  Canaries 
Behaim's  globe  is  almost  entirely  Ptolemaic;  while  beyond  the  180th  meridian 
Behaim  added  60  degrees  of  mainland,  placing  Cambaluc  on  the  41st  parallel 
approximately  and  about  53  degrees  east  of  Ptolemy's  180th  meridian,  and  locating 
a  great  island  called  Cipangu  1500  miles  or  almost  30  degrees  east  of  the  mainland 
of  Asia.19  Then  he  opened  the  sea  way  from  the  eastern  ocean20  into  the  Indicum 
Mare,  in  accordance  with  Marco  Polo's  statement  that  he  went  by  sea  from  Mangi 
to  India,  passing  so  far  south  that  the  pole  star  was  no  longer  visible.21  Ptolemy's 
tentative  south  coast  of  the  Indicum  Mare,  which  he  has  marked  "  Terra  Incognita" 
was  opened  to  conform  with  Marco  Polo's  account  and  also  with  Behaim's  own 
oceanic  theory  of  the  world  geography.22  Then  the  southern  sea  was  filled  with  the 
great  islands  of  Java  Maior,  Java  Minor,  Seilan,  Zanzibar,  and  Madagascar.  A 
continuation  of  the  Asiatic  peninsula  of  Moabar,  the  islands  of  Madagascar  and 
Zanzibar  and  a  projection  of  southern  Africa  were  the  Behaim  equivalents  of 
Ptolemy's  Terra  Incognita. 

This  conception  of  eastern  Asiatic  geography  persisted  through  the  first 
quarter  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  and  is  apparently  the  basis  of  the  geographical 
concept  that  Johann  Schoner23  represented  on  his  map  of  1523.  It  persisted  in  the 
idea  that  America  might  be  connected  with  Asia  until  Vitus  Bering,  by  discovering 
the  Bering  Strait,  finally  dispelled  it. 

Columbus  apparently  employed  a  concept  of  Asia  similar  to  the  Behaim 
Globe  because  we  know  that  he  had  a  map,  furnished  to  Pinzon24  while  in  Rome, 
which  placed  Campanso  (Cipango)  95  degrees  west  of  Spain.  This  is  substantially 
the  same  as  Behaim  placed  it.  Columbus,  however,  modified  his  longitudes  by  a 
different  degree  value.  While  in  the  service  of  Portugal,  Columbus  claimed  that 
he  had  verified  the  Arab  measure  of  56  2/3  Italian  miles  to  the  equatorial  degree.28 
Columbus  regarded  the  Italian  nautical  mile  as  equivalent  to  the  Arab  mile. 
Neither  the  longitudes  Columbus  assigned  to  the  supposed  kingdoms,  provinces, 
and  islands  of  eastern  Asia,  are  known  nor  the  method  by  which  he  calculated  those 
longitudes.     We  do  not  know  whether  he  actually  recalculated  the  longitudes  of 


19  Note:  Wherever  the  name  of  Cipango  appears  in  this  monograph  the  spelling  will  conform  with  that  of  the  source  to 
which  reference  is  being  made  in  that  paragraph,  otherwise  the  spelling  adopted  is  Cipango. 

30  E.  G.  Ravenstein:  Martin  Behaim,  His  Life  and  His  Globe.  Map  in  four  sections  in  back  pocket. 
21  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo,  as  cited.  Vol.  2,  p.  284. 
M  E.  G.  Ravenstein:  Martin  Behaim  etc.,  p.  71. 

23  Dr.  F.  Wieder:  Monumenta  Cartographica  Vol.  1,  plates  1-3. 

Note:  The  Behaim  concept  of  eastern  Asia  is  shown  on  the  following  maps:— Henricus  Martellus  Germanus,  about 
|489,  Nordenskiold's  Periplus,  p.  123;  Hamy  map  about  1502,  Nordenskiold's  Periplus  plate  XLV;  Waldseemiiller  1507, 
Fischer  and  v.  Wieser,  The  Oldest  Map  with  the  Name  America;  Bernardus  Sylvanus  1511,  Nordenskiold's  Facsimile  Atlas, 
plate  XXXIII;  Glareanus  1510,  Nordenskiold's  Periplus,  p.  173;  Hydrographia  sive  Charta  Marina  1513,  Nordenskiold's 
Facsimile  Atlas,  p.  XXXV;  Lenox  Globe  uncertain  date,  Mag.  Am.  Hist.  Sept.  1879;  Gregorius  Reisch  1515,  Nordenskiold's 
Facsimile  Atlas,  plate  XXXVIII;  Schoner  Globes  1515  and  1520,  K.  Kretschmer  Die  Entdeckung  Amerikas,  plate  XIII; 
Petrus  Apianus  1520,  Nordenskiold's  Facsimile  Atlas,  plate  XXXVIII;  Laurentius  Frisius  1522,  Nordenskiold's  Facsimile 
Atlas,  plate  XXXIX;  Robert  Thorne  1527,  Nordenskiold's  Facsimile  Atlas,  plate  XLI;  Benedetto  Bordone  1528,  Fig.  1 
present  work;  Petrus  Apianus  1530,  Nordenskiold's  Periplus,  plate  XLIV;  and  Honter  1542,  Nordenskiold's  Periplus,  p.  149. 

24  M.  F.  deNavarrete:  Coleccion  de  los  viages  y  descubrimientos,  etc.,  5  Vols.  Madrid  1825-37.     Tomo  III,  p.  560. 

25  G.  E.  Nunn:  The  Geographical  Conceptions  of  Columbus,  pp.  1-30. 


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Fig.  3.     BEHAIM'S  EASTERN  EXTREMITY  OF  ASIA. 

(E.  G.  Ravenstein:  Martin  Behaim  His  Life  and  His  Globe.    Twelve  Gores  in  Back  Pocket). 


THE  TERRESTRIAL  DEGREE 

Ptolemy,  using  his  56  2/3  mile  modulus,  or  whether  he  fully  accepted  the  225 
degrees  of  extreme  eastern  longitude  of  Marinus  of  Tyre,"  and  then  applied  to  the 
itineraries  of  Marco  Polo  in  the  supposed  extension  of  Asia  beyond  Ptolemy's 
180th  or  Marinus  of  Tyre's  225th  meridian  the  56  2/3  mile  modulus.  Either 
method  would  have  the  effect  of  reducing  the  supposed  longitudinal  distance 
between  western  Europe  and  Cipango  by  nearly  one  half,  or  approximately  45 
degrees.  Columbus  is  known  from  several  sources"  to  have  promised  his  crews  that 
land  would  be  found  within  700-  750  leagues  west  of  the  Canaries.  Calculating  on 
the  basis  of  the  56  2/3  mile  equatorial  degree,  and  allowing  50  miles  to  the  degree 
in  the  latitude  of  the  Canaries,  the  50  degrees  would  equal  2500  miles  or  640  leagues. 
In  this  case,  it  appears  that  the  700  leagues  estimate  was  only  a  moderate  over- 
estimate for  psychological  reasons. 

When  Columbus  returned  from  his  first  voyage,  he  reported  that  he  had 
reached  eastern  Asia  and  visited  the  island  of  Cipango,  which  he  had  renamed 
Espano/a.2a  It  was  Cuba  which  he  tentatively  identified  as  Asia  {Terra-Firm e)  in 
1492,  and  positively  in  1494  when  he  compelled  his  crews  to  sign29  a  statement  to 
that  effect.  Acceptance  of  Columbus'  claims  involved  necessarily  a  break  with 
Pto  emy  regarding  the  length  of  a  terrestrial  degree  and  the  size  of  the  earth, — a 
thing  many  were  not  prepared  to  do.50 

The  earliest  map  makers  following  the  discovery  by  Columbus  avoid  com- 
mitting themselves  to  either  the  Columbian  or  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  longitudes  in 
various  ways.  Nearly  all  of  the  first  maps  are  not  graduated  with  latitude  and 
longitude  lines.  They  are  provided  instead  with  an  equator  and  the  tropics  for 
latitude  and  a  mileage  scale  for  distance  east  and  west,  as  a  plausible  method  of 
handling  a  difficult  subject.  Many  modern  geographers  have  falsely  concluded 
that  it  would  be  safe  to  infer  that  the  same  scale  as  applied  to  the  latitudes  could 
be  applied  to  the  longitudes.51  This  obviously  misses  the  point  that  in  the  very 
days  in  question  there  was  an  unsettled  dispute  over  all  longitudes  and  that  the 
only  reconcilable  method  was  to  omit  all  longitudes  and  in  their  place  provide  a 
mileage  scale.  Then  each  person  using  the  map  could  follow  his  own  theory. 
However  this  method  involved  certain  difficulties  when  dealing  either  with  a  globe 
or  a  true  world  map  purporting  to  show  the  whole  360  degrees  of  the  earth's 
circumference. 

Among  the  earliest  maps"  of  the  world  drawn  after  the  discovery  of  America 
is  the  Hamy-King  chart  shown  by  Nordenskiold.    This  map  belongs  to  the  period 

26  Fr.  R.  v.  Wieser:  Die  Karte  des  Bartolomeo  Colombo,  Innsbruck  1893,  tafel  III. 

21  B.  de  Las  Casas:  Historia  de  las  Indias,  Vol.  I,  p.  287.  Fernando  Colombo:  Historie,  etc.,  ed.  Venetia  1678,  p.  98  ch. 
XXI.  Coleccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos  Relativos  al  descubrimiento,  conquista  y  organizacion  de  las  Antiguas  posessiones 
Espanolas  de  Ultramar,  Segunda  Serie,  Tomo  8.  De  Los  Pleitos  de  Colon,  Vol.  II,  p.  127.  Henry  Vignaud:  Historie  Critique 
de  la  Grande  Entreprise  de  Christophe  Colomb,  Vol.  II,  pp.  172-209. 

28  Henry  Vignaud:  Toscanelli  and  Columbus,  p.  210,  No.  206. 

29  M.  F.  de  Navarrete:  Coleccion  de  los  Viages,  etc.,  Vol.  II,  p.  143-149. 

30  Michele  de  Cuneo:  Lettera,  Savona  15-28  Ottobre  1495  in  Raccolta  di  Documenti  E.  Studi — Pubblicati  dalla  R. 
commissione  Colombians,  etc.,  parte  III,  Vol.  II.  Fonti  Italiane  per  la  Storia  della  Scoperta  del  Nuovo  Mondo.  Raccolta  da 
Guglielmo  Berchet,  pp.  95-107.  Andres  Bernaldez:  Historia  de  los  Reyes  Catolicos;  Vol.  II,  p.  43. 

81  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Marine  World  Chart  of  Nicolo  de  Canerio  Januensis,  p.  20.  Edward  Heawood:  The  World  Map 
Before  and  After  Magellan's  Voyage  in  Geog.  Jour.  Vol.  LVII,  No.  6,  June  1921,  p.  436. 

32  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus,  plate  XLV.  Dr.  E.  T.  Hamy:  Notice  sur  une  Mappemonde  Portugaise  anonyme  de  1502 
in  Bui.  de  Geog.  Hist,  et  Descriptive.  Anne  1886  No.  4,  pp.  147-160  and  5  plates. 


THE  TERRESTRIAL  DEGREE 

about  1502  or  immediately  following.  It  shows  an  Asia  after  the  Behaim  conception, 
and  indicates  the  American  region  as  a  series  of  islands  probably  lying  very  near 
the  coast  of  eastern  Asia.  Cipango  is  not  shown  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  map  and 
the  map  is  not  drawn  with  longitude  lines.  There  is  a  scale  but  it  does  not  correspond 
to  the  degree  scale  for  latitude.  If  the  distance  from  the  Canary  islands  to  Cattigara 
is  taken  as  a  measure  and  is  accepted  at  the  Ptolemy  figure  of  180  degrees  the  map 
covers  a  longitude  of  approximately  340  degrees.33  In  that  case  the  Cuba — Isabella 
Islands  are  at  substantially  Cipango's  correct  distance  from  the  mainland  of  Asia 
according  to  the  Behaim  interpretation  of  Marco  Polo. 

If  there  is  any  doubt  as  to  whether  cartographers  placed  any  credence  in 
Columbus'  claim  to  have  reached  eastern  Asia,  as  Vignaud  claims  they  did  not, 
the  two  maps  derived  from  Portuguese  sources,  known  as  the  Cantino  and  Canerio, 
ought  to  remove  that  doubt.  These  maps  belong  to  about  1502,  but  as  neither  is 
dated  the  date  can  only  be  fixed  by  other  evidence.33' 

Stevenson  estimated  on  the  basis  of  the  latitude  scale  on  the  left  hand  side  of 
the  Canerio  map  that  the  map  covered  about  250  degrees  of  longitude.  He  assumed 
that  the  latitude  and  longitude  scales  were  interchangeable,  but  we  know  from  the 
Congress  of  Badajoz34  that,  down  to  about  1508  at  least,  the  Portuguese  continued 
to  accept  the  Ptolemy  longitudes  in  general.  In  that  case,  we  may  assume,  that  on 
this  map  the  scale  east  and  west  is  not  the  same  as  for  latitude.  This  view  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  separate  scales  are  given  for  the  two  directions. 
Then,  if  we  accept  the  Ptolemy  longitude  of  160  degrees  for  the  west  side  of  the 
Malacca  peninsula,  identified  by  nearly  all  the  early  geographers  as  the  same  as 
Ptolemy's  Aurea  Chersonesus,  the  Canerio  map  covers  a  Ptolemaic  longitude  of 
approximately  328  degrees.  If  the  Columbus  modulus  of  56  2/3  miles  to  an  equa- 
torial degree  be  employed  in  place  of  the  Ptolemy  measure  of  Gl}4  this  328  degrees 
becomes  360  plus,  or  approximately  the  circumference  of  the  earth.  It  would  seem 
from  this  fact  that  the  maker  of  the  Canerio  chart  had  in  mind  a  doubt  as  to  the 
correct  size  of  the  earth.  He  devised  a  scheme  whereby  both  the  Columbian  and  the 
Ptolemic  measurements  could  be  shown  and  then  gave  a  mileage  scale  so  the  user 
of  the  map  might  take  his  choice. 

To  confirm  this  view  that  the  maker  of  the  Cantino  map  regarded  the  Colum- 
bian discoveries  as  a  part  of  eastern  Asia  there  are  several  important  pieces  of 
evidence.  {A)  Contrary  to  Stevenson  and  Harrisse  neither  the  Cantino  nor  the 
Canerio  charts  indicate  a  complete  coast  of  Asia.  On  the  contrary,  at  the  northern 
end  of  what  corresponds  to  the  Sinus  Magnus  the  coast  bends  sharply  into  the  edge 
of  the  map35  as  though  there  was  more  land  to  the  east.  (B)  The  coast  of  the  main- 
land west  of  Isabella,  sometimes  taken  for  an  early  discovered  Florida,  contains  a 


33  The  Hamy-King  chart  is  interesting  also  for  the  two  equators  indicated,  one  Ptolemaic  in  the  Indian  ocean  and  the 
other  substantially  modern  in  its  correctness  in  the  Atlantic. 

S3s  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Marine  World  Chart  of  Nicolo  de  Canerio  Januensis,  p.  15.   Henry  Harrisse:  Les  Corte-Real,  etc., 
pp.  69-76  and  215-216.  Henry  Harrisse:  The  Discovery  of  North  America,  pp.  422-425. 

34  M.  F.  de  Navarrete:  Coleccion  de  los  Viages  Tomo  IV,  pp.  350-355. 

35  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Marine  World  Chart  of  Nicolo  de  Canerio  Januensis.    For  Cantino  map  see  text,  p.  50. 


NEWLY  DISCOVERED  LANDS  BELIEVED  PART  OF  ASIA 

series  of  23  names  which  the  present  writer  has  already  shown36  to  be  derived 
mostly  from  Columbus'  first  and  second  voyage  and  partly  from  the  Corte  Real 
voyages  to  the  northeast  coast,  probably  Labrador  and  Newfoundland.  The 
Columbus  names  were  applied  under   the  misimpression   that  Cuba  was  Asia. 

(C)  The  Waldseemtiller  Carta  Marina"  1516  evidently  derived  from  the  Cantino 
and  Canerio  type  map  names  this  so-called  "Florida,"  "Terra  de  Cuba  Asie  Partis." 

(D)  On  the  Cantino  chart  there  are  three  legends,  one  "a  ponta  d,"  which  Stevenson 
thinks  is  intended  for  "a  ponta  a"  Asia"  and  to  the  eastward  another  legend  reads 
"Parte  de  Assia"  the  third  and  longest  legend  Stevenson38  translates:  "This  land 
which  was  discovered  by  order  of  the  Most  Excellent  Prince  Dom  Manuel,  King 
of  Portugal,  they  think  is  the  end  of  Asia.  Those  who  made  the  discovery  did 
not  go  ashore  but  they  saw  the  land  and  described  nothing  but  abrupt  mountains. 
That  is  the  reason  why,  following  the  opinions  of  cosmographers,  it  is  believed  to 
be  the  extremity  of  Asia."  (E)  Lorenzo  Pasqualigo  reported  concerning  Cabot 
in  his  letter  from  London,  23rd  August  1497,  that  he  had  discovered  the  mainland 
of  the  Gran  Cam.39  (F)  Pietro  Pasqualigo  reported,39  19th  October  1501:  "A 
native  boy  had  two  silver  rings  in  his  ears,  which  without  doubt  seem  to  have  been 
manufactured  at  Venice.  This  made  me  believe  that  it  was  the  mainland,  because 
it  is  not  possible  that  a  ship  could  ever  have  reached  that  place  without  having 
been  heard  of."40  This  seems,  in  view  of  the  other  facts  related,  to  indicate  Pasqu- 
aligo's  belief  that  the  country  was  the  mainland  of  eastern  Asia  and  that  the  silver 
came  overland  from  Venice.  (G)  Finally,  there  is  found  a  crescent41  in  the  region 
of  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  present  Columbia,  South  America.  This  is  another  way, 
according  to  many  authorities,  of  showing  the  Asiatic  relation  of  the  Trans- 
Atlantic  countries.  In  view  of  the  above  facts  it  may  be  submitted  that  the  Cantino 
and  Canerio  maps  did  not  terminate  Asia  in  the  region  just  east  of  Malacca.  On  the 
contrary,  these  maps  are  in  accord  with  all  other  maps  of  the  early  Sixteenth 
Century  in  giving  the  same  extension  to  eastern  Asia  that  Behaim  gave.  That 
portion  of  eastern  Asia  not  placed  on  the  right  hand  side  of  their  maps  appeared 
on  the  left  hand  side  as  part  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  Cabot  and  the  Corte- 
Reals.  Neither  Canerio  nor  the  maker  of  the  Cantino  map  indicates  a  question 
about  these  newly  discovered  lands  being  a  part  of  Asia. 

Martin  Waldseemiiller  is  the  man  largely  responsible  for  the  present  con- 
fusion regarding  the  Sixteenth  Century  conceptions  of  American  Asiatic  geography. 
He  is  the  person  known  to  have  been  responsible  for  misnaming  America  in  his 
book  called  Cosmographiae  Introductio,42  published  at  St.  Die,  France,  in  1507. 
At  the  same  time  he  published  a  large  world  map  on  a  modified  cordiform  pro- 


s'' G.  E.  Nunn:  The  Geographical  Conceptions  of  Columbus,  pp.  91-141. 

37  Joseph  Fischer  and  F.  R.  v.  Wieser:  The  Oldest  Map  with  the  Name  America. 

88  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Marine  World  Chart  as  cited,  p.  24. 

39  C.  R.  Markham:  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus  and  Documents  Relating  to  the  Voyages  of  John  Cabot  and 
Gaspar  Corte  Real,  p.  201. 

40  C.  R.  Markham:  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  p.  237. 

41  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Marine  World  Chart  as  cited.   Map. 

42  The  Cosmographiae  Introductio  of  Martin  Waldseemtiller  in  facsimile,  U.  S.  Catholic  Hist.  Soc  Monograph  No.  4. 


THE  WALDSEEMULLER  MAP 

jection.  The  most  important  feature  of  this  map  was  a  reconciliation  of  the  Colum- 
bian longitudes  with  the  Marco  Polo-Ptolemy  longitudes  as  shown  on  the  Behaim 
globe. 

Waldseemiiller  represented  the  world"  according  to  the  Behaim  conception 
with  Ptolemaic  longitudes  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the  map  which  terminates  at 
the  270th  degree  of  longitude  east  from  the  Canary  meridian,  or  just  east  of  Zi- 
pangri.  The  ocean  east  of  Asia  is  named  "Occeanus  Orientalis  Indicus."  On  the  left 
hand  side  of  the  map  are  the  remaining  90  degrees  necessary  to  make  up  the  360. 
There  is  shown  beyond  the  Occeanus  Occidentalis  two  long  slim  islands  corresponding 
to  North  and  South  America  but  separated  by  a  strait  in  the  region  of  the  present 
Panama.  The  west  side  of  both  large  islands  is  marked  with  legends  "Terra  ulteri 
incognita"  in  the  north  and  "Terra  ultra  incognita"  to  the  south.  The  coast  of  the 
land  falsely  supposed  to  be  "Florida"  is  marked  with  twenty-three  names  just  as 
on  the  Canerio  map,  thus  indicating  it  to  be  the  same  region  Columbus  mistook 
for  Asia.  On  the  later  Carta  Marina  1516  Waldseemiiller  named  this  "Terra  de 
Cuba  Asie  Partis."  The  cape  of  the  "Florida"  is  in  almost  the  same  latitude  as 
that  of  the  Zaitun  region  of  the  Behaim  Asia,  and  the  two  differ  in  longitude  by 
55  degrees.  However  the  island  of  Zipangri  and  the  island  of  Espano/a,  which 
Columbus  considered  identical,  differ  by  only  45  degrees  on  their  west  coast.  This 
is  substantially  the  difference  between  the  Columbian  and  the  Behaim  longitudes. 

On  account  of  this  map  and  its  numerous  derivatives  it  is  taken  for  granted 
that  as  early,  at  least,  as  1507  it  was  definitely  known  that  America  was  distinct 
from  Asia.  On  the  strength  of  such  an  assumption  as  noted  an  authority  as  Edward 
Heawood"  has  asserted  in  regard  to  the  Cantino-Canerio  type  of  map  that  they 
discarded  the  great  Behaim  peninsula  of  eastern  Asia  and  indicated  fairly  correctly 
the  enormous  expanse  of  the  Pacific  ocean  before  any  part  of  it  had  been  discovered. 
Before,  however,  we  accept  this  view  of  the  case  it  is  proper  to  point  out  that  the 
Waldseemiiller  of  1507  and  its  derivatives  are  the  only  maps  that  in  any  way  even 
seem  to  indicate  an  ocean  between  the  continent  of  North  America  and  eastern 
Asia  until  we  come  to  the  Ribero  type  and  their  immediate  predecessors  about  1520. 

If  at  this  point  we  introduce  the  map  of  1506  attributed  to  Bartholomew 
Columbus"  we  may  clear  up  some  of  the  difficulties  of  the  early  Sixteenth  Century 
geography.  This  map,  small  and  rude  as  it  is  and  little  advertised  as  it  is,  is  never- 
theless probably  the  most  important  map  historically  ever  drawn.  The  map  was 
found  by  Professor  Franz  R.  von  Wieser  on  the  back  of  a  letter.  It  is  in  three 
disjointed  sections.  Section  number  one  shows  the  north  Atlantic  between  Spain 
and  Africa  to  the  east  and  the  Marco  Polo  Asia  east  of  Cattigara  and  Ptolemy's 
180th  meridian  on  the  west.  The  northern  coast  of  South  America  under  the  name, 
Mondo  NovOy  appears  on  the  bottom  of  the  section.   Section  two  shows  south  Asia 


41  Joseph  Fischer  and  F.  R.  v.  Wieser:  The  Oldest  Map  with  the  name  America  of  the  year  1507  and  the  Carta  Marina 
of  the  year  1516. 

**  Edward  Heawood:  The  World  Map  Before  and  After  Magellan's  Voyage,  in  Geog.  Journ.  Vol.  LVII,  No.  6,  June 
1921,  p.  436. 

45  Fr.  R.  v.  Wieser:  Die  Karte  des  Bartolomeo  Colombo,  etc. 

8 


THE  BARTHOLOMEW  COLUMBUS  MAP 

from  Africa  to  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia.  The  third  section  depicts  part  of  Africa. 
The  longitudes  are  marked  on  sections  two  and  three  from  the  Canary  meridian  to 
Cattigara,  after  the  Ptolemy  manner.  On  the  Atlantic  section  there  are  no  numbers 


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Fig.  4.    SKETCH  MAP  BY  BARTHOLOMEW  COLUMBUS.   THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC. 
(After  the  facsimile  in  R.  F.  v.  Wieser,  Die  Carte  des  Bartolomco  Colombo.    Note  93.) 


for  the  longitudes  but  there  are  thirteen  spaces  indicated.  The  key  to  the  longitudes 
is  found  on  the  African  section  in  a  legend  to  the  effect  that  "according  to  Marinus 
and  Columbus,  from  Cape  St.  Vincent  to  Cattigara  are  225  degrees  or  15  hours; 
according  to  Ptolemy  to  the  confines  of  Cattigara  are  180  degrees  or  nine  hours. 

This  fairly  presents  the  greatest  problem  of  the  early  Sixteenth  Century 
geography.  The  Behaim  globe  represents  the  latest  prediscovery  conception  of  the 
world  combining  Ptolemy  with  Marco  Polo  and  placing  extreme  eastern  Asia  at 
240  degrees  eastern  longitude  counting  from  the  Canaries  and  locating  eastern 
Cipango  at  270  degrees  east  longitude.  Columbus  used  a  modulus  of  56  2/3  Italian 
nautical  miles  and  with  it  or  a  combination  of  the  modulus  and  Marinus  of  Tyre's 
225  degrees  longitude  for  Cattigara,  Columbus  made  the  eastern  longitudes  of  the 
extreme  east  of  Asia  about  285  and  Cipango  about  315  degrees  respectively.  In 
other  words,  he  placed  Cipango  about  700  leagues  west  of  the  Canaries  and  the  main- 
land of  Asia  1100  leagues  west  of  the  same  point.  The  Cantino  and  Canerio  charts 
apparently  accepted  the  Columbus  dictum.  Waldseemiiller  did  not  care  to  favor 
one  more  than  the  other.  Therefore  when  he  drew  his  map  he  devised  a  scheme 
whereby  he  indicated  on  the  right  hand  side  the  Ptolemy-Marco  Polo-Behaim 
conception  included  within  270  degrees  of  longitude.  On  the  left  hand  side,  he 
indicated  the  Columbian  conception  duplicating  the  same  eastern  Asia,  once  as 
the  west  coast  of  the  Occeanus  Occidentalism  and  the  other  time  as  the  west  coast 
of  the  Occeanus  Orientalis  Indicus.  Take  your  choice.  It  was  a  plausible  and  ready 
method  of  avoiding  the  solution  of  a  difficulty  at  the  time  insoluble. 

We  are  presenting  herewith,  a  number  of  contemporary  maps  with  the  hope 
that  the  different  features  of  each  may  contribute  to  the  solution  of  the  problem, 
What  was  the  early  Sixteenth  Century  conception  of  the  geographical  relation  of 


THE  BARTHOLOMEW  COLUMBUS  MAP 

the  Trans-Atlantic  countries  to  the  eastern  Asia  of  Marco  Polo  and  Ptolemy? 
Among  these  maps  a  place  of  considerable  importance  must  be  assigned  to  the 


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four  maps  of  Francesco  Roselli,  the  Florentine.   One  of  these  maps  was  purchased 
recently  for  the  British  Museum.    Heawood  wrote  an  article  concerning  it  for  the 


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THE  FOUR  ROSELLI  MAPS 

Geographical  Journal48  and  subsequently  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum 
published47  a  facsimile  of  the  map.  Another  of  Roselli's  maps,  as  has  been  noticed, 
was  published  in  1532  in  a  book  known  as  the  "Isolario  di  Bartolomeo  da  li  Sonetti." 
The  other  two  were  brought  to  the  attention  of  Harrisse48  by  their  owner,  M. 
Horace  Landau,  of  Florence.  Harrisse  designated  the  three  maps  of  Roselli  known 
to  him  as  Roselli  A,  Roselli  B,  and  Roselli  C. 

The  map  in  the  Isolario  [see  frontispiece]  he  designated  as  Roselli  B.  It  differs 
from  Roselli  A  only  in  the  addition  of  172  lines  of  verse,  dealing  with  geography. 
This  verse  appears  around  the  left  and  bottom  margin  of  the  map.  but  is  of  no 
significance  for  this  monograph.  Harrisse  thinks  that  the  Roselli  B  map  is  a  re- 
issue of  the  earlier  Roselli  A  map.  The  Roselli  C  [see  Fig.  8]  is  quite  similar  in 
concept  to  the  A  and  B  maps  but  is  on  a  different  projection.  The  Roselli  A  and  B 
maps  are  almost  identical  in  geographical  conception  with  the  British  Museum 
map.  The  same  is  true  of  that  part  of  the  C  map  published  by  Harrisse  except 
that  the  island  South  America  or  Terra  S.  Cruets  is  placed  much  closer  to  Asia 
and  the  island  of  Zipagu  is  omitted.  The  A  and  C  maps  are  undated.  The  date  of 
1532  accompanying  the  B  map  is  certainly  not  the  date  of  the  map  but  rather 
belongs  to  the  Isolario  and  probably  is  the  date  of  the  composition  of  the  172 
lines  of  poetry  about  the  edge  of  the  map. 

In  order  to  correctly  assess  the  value  historically  of  these  maps  and  to  estimate 
their  influence  on  geographical  conceptions  it  is  necessary  to  know  approximately 
the  date  of  their  composition.  The  British  Museum  map  is  the  only  one  of  the 
four  really  dated — 1506 — granting  that  this  is  the  correct  interpretation  of  the 
inscription  in  the  Indian  Ocean  east  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  with  the  peculiar 
Latin  wording  1506  notu.  The  dates  of  the  other  three  maps  can  be  determined 
only  by  internal  evidence,  always  a  rather  doubtful  method. 

Heawood  thinks4*  that  the  Roselli  B  (and  consequently  the  Roselli  A)  map  is  a 
reduced  copy  of  the  1506  map  on  a  different — the  oval — instead  of  the  conical 
projection.  The  fact  that  the  British  Museum  map  is  so  much  more  full  of  detail 
indicates  that  it  is  no  simple  copy  of  the  others.  Then,  as  Heawood  says,  it  is 
unlikely  that,  Contarini  being  the  real  author,  his  name  should  not  have  appeared 
in  the  earlier  versions  (supposing  the  smaller  maps  to  have  been  such)  while 
mentioned  in  the  later.  The  converse  supposition, — that  Roselli,  who  had  engraved 
the  first  and  more  elaborate  map  for  Contarini,  should  afterwards  have  reduced 
it  to  suit  purchasers  who  preferred  a  cheaper  edition, — is  far  more  probable.  The 
present  writer,  who  would  assign  the  Roselli  A  map  to  about  1507  accepts  this  view 
and  will  add  during  the  course  of  this  study  most  important  evidence  in  support 
of  the  reasons  advanced  by  Heawood. 


«  Edward  Heawood:  A  Hitherto  Unknown  World  Map  of  A.  D.  1506.  Geog.  Jour.  Vol.  LXII  No.  4,  Oct.  1923,  pp.  279- 
293.   Map  in  back,  p.  320. 

47  A  Map  of  the  World  Designed  by  Gio.  Matteo  Contarini  Engraved  by  Fran.  Roselli  1506,  London  1924. 

48  Henry  Harrisse:  Decouverte  et  Evolution  Cartographique  de  Terre-Neuve,  etc.,  pp.  65-69.  See  also  Raccolta  di 
Documente  E  Studi.  Pubblicati  dalla  R.  Commissione  Columbiana.  Roma  1893.  Fonti  Italiane  per  la  Storia  della  Scoperta 
del  Nuovo  Mondo.  Guglielmo  Berchet.  Parte  III,  Vol.  II,  pp.  394-5.  Map  facsimile  published  under  the  name  of  Bartolo- 
meo Zamberti. 

»  Edward  Heawood:  A  Hitherto  Unknown  World  Map  of  A.  D.  1506  in  Geog.  Journ.  Vol.  LXII  No.  4,  Oct.  1923,  p.  281. 

11 


THE  FOUR  ROSELLI  MAPS 

The  geographical  conception  of  the  British  Museum  map  [Fig.  7]  of  1506 
and  of  the  oval  Roselli  is  that  of  the  Ptolemy-Marco  Polo-Behaim  school,  just 
before  the  fourth  voyage  of  Columbus.  According  to  the  longitudes  indicated,  the 
claims  of  Columbus  to  have  reached  the  mainland  of  Asia  and  to  have  discovered 
the  island  of  Cipango  on  his  first  voyage  are  apparently  both  rejected.  It  is  75 
degrees  along  the  latitude  of  Cuba's  main  axis  between  the  east  end  of  Cuba 


Fig.  8.    THE  ROSELLI  C  MAP. 
(After  Henry  Harisse:  Decoverte  et  Evolution  Cartographique  de  Terre  Neuve.) 


(Columbus'  Asiatic  mainland)  and  the  mainland  of  Asia  according  to  the  1506  map 
and  70  degrees  on  the  oval  Roselli.  On  the  same  maps  it  is  respectively  50  and  40 
degrees  between  the  east  end  of  Espanola  and  the  east  side  of  Cipango.  South 
America  is  a  very  great  island  continental  in  size  and  distant  from  Asia  along  the 
equator  90  and  65  degrees  respectively. 

It  is  apparently  in  the  north  Atlantic  region  alone  that  the  Roselli  maps  made 
any  compromise  with  the  Asiatic  claims  of  the  recent  discoverers.  The  whole 
province  of  Tangut,  placed  by  Waldseemuller  north  of  Cathay,  was  extended  as  a 
vast  peninsula  so  as  to  be  east  of  the  longitude  of  Cathay.  On  the  1506  map  this 
peninsula  extends  from  222  degrees  east  longitude  to  350  degrees  or  within  15 
degrees  longitude  of  Ireland.    However  this  extreme  east  longitude  is  found  north 

12 


THE  CABOT  VOYAGES 

of  the  80th  parallel  of  latitude  whereas  north  Ireland  is  only  60  degrees  north 
latitude.  The  oval  map  extends  Cathai  to  240  degrees  east  longitude  and  gives 
Tangut  the  same  extreme  east  longitude  as  the  1506  map,  but,  at  latitude  57  north, 
the  south  coast  of  this  peninsula  of  Tangut  faces  the  islands  discovered  by  Columbus, 
on  the  1506  map  generally  north  of  the  60th  parallel  of  latitude,  on  the  oval  map 
along  the  50th  parallel.  There  are  only  two  names  of  places  besides  the  name  of 
the  province, — Rio  da  Rosa  and  Terra  de  Caramella.  The  last  seems  to  be  derived 
from  the  Portuguese  and  seems  to  signify  the  land  of  ice.50 

It  would  seem  that  this  great  peninsula  is  a  cartographical  record  of  the  Cabot 
voyages,  especially  of  the  one  in  1497,  although  the  absence  of  names  on  the  coast 
indicates  as  great  a  scarcity  of  knowledge  about  Cabot's  work  then  as  today.  The 
reports  that  came  out  of  London  were  to  the  effect51  that  John  Cabot  had  sailed 
from  Bristol.  He  laid  his  course  from  Ireland  to  the  north  and  then  west.  At  a 
distance  variously  given  as  400  and  700  leagues  from  England  he  reached  a  country 
thought  to  be  the  mainland  of  the  country  of  the  Grand  Cam.  This  land  was  in 
later  accounts  called  Bacallaos.  Cabot  coasted  this  country  for  300  leagues.  It 
was  thought  possible  to  coast  this  country  to  a  point  opposite  Cipango.  He  found 
no  inhabitants,  but  he  found  snares  to  take  game,  a  needle  for  making  nets,  and 
notched  trees,  from  which  he  judged  that  there  were  inhabitants.  On  the  return 
voyage  he  saw  two  very  large  islands  to  the  right  but  he  did  not  land  as  his  pro- 
visions were  scarce.  Some  thought  that  the  land  contained  the  legendary  seven 
cities.  The  land  was  described  as  excellent  and  the  climate  temperate.  It  was 
reported  that  brasil  and  silk  were  produced  there,  while  fish  were  very  abundant 
in  the  sea.52 

A  great  deal  of  confusion  has  been  introduced  into  the  history  of  the  Cabots 
by  confusing  the  voyages  of  1497  and  1498.  According  to  one  of  the  latest  writers53 
Cabot  left  Bristol  on  Tuesday,  2nd  May,  1497,  with  one  ship,  named  the  Mathew, 
and  18  men.  After  52  days  at  sea  land  was  discovered  at  5  o'clock,  Saturday 
morning,  June  24th.  This  authority  considers  the  land  found  as  identical  with  the 
extremity  of  Cape  Breton  Island.  Cape  Breton  was  named  Cape  Discovery, 
Cavo  Descubierto;  and  Scatari  Island  received  the  name  of  St.  John;  Cape  Ray, 
C.  de  S.  Jorge;  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon,  ilia  de  la  Trenidat;  and  Cape  Race,  Cavo  de 
Ynglaterra.   On  the  return  Cabot  reached  Bristol,  Sunday,  August  6th. 

A  second  expedition  with  two  ships  (or  five  ships)  and  300  men  sailed  from 
Bristol  early  the  next  May.  This  expedition,  in  June,  sighted  the  east  coast  of  Green- 
land and  named  it  Labrador.  Cabot  followed  this  east  coast  to  the  north  until,  on 
June  11th,  in  latitude  67°  30',  the  crews  refused  to  proceed  because  of  the  ice  and 
because  the  land  tended  towards  the  east.  Cabot  thereupon  turned  back,  rounded 
Cape  Farewell  and  proceeded  up  the  west  coast  of  Greenland  as  far  as  the  Sukker- 
toppen  district  in  66  degrees  where  his  progress  was  stopped  by  icebergs  from  Disko 
Bay.  He  thence  crossed  to  Baffin's  Land,  passed  the  entrance  to  Hudson's  Bay  and 

50  Henry  Harrisse:  Decoverte  et  Evolution  Cartographique  de  Terre  Neuve,  p.  68. 

51  C.  R.  Markham:  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  etc.,  pp.  201,  202,  203,  209. 

52  C.  R.  Markham:  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  etc.,  pp.  201,  202,  204. 

53  H.  P.  Biggar:  The  Precursors  of  Jacques  Carrier,  1497-1534.  Pub.  of  Canadian  Archives,  No.  5,  Ottawa  1911,  p.  IX-XI. 

13 


THE  CABOT  LANDFALL 

coasted  the  North  American  continent  as  far  as  Chesapeake  Bay  in  latitude  38 
degrees.   This  is  the  interpretation  of  H.  P.  Biggar.64 

The  accounts  of  these  two  voyages  are  so  indistinct  that  for  a  long  time  many 
scholars  supposed  all  the  accounts  referred  to  the  voyage  of  1497.  The  facts  re- 
ferring to  the  first  voyage  above  are  taken  mostly  from  the  letters  of  Pasqualigo, 
London,  23rd  Aug.,  1497;  Raimondo  di  Soncino,  24th  Aug.,  1497;  Raimondo  di 
Soncino,  18th  Dec,  1497;  Ruy  GonzaWz  de  Puebla,  25th  July,  1498;  and  Pedro  de 
Ayala,  25th  July,  1498."  With  the  exception  of  the  last  two  letters  the  accounts  of 
necessity  refer  only  to  the  first  voyage.  The  later  accounts  given  by  Sebastian 
Cabot,  found  in  Peter  Martyr,  Ramusio,  Gomara,  Galvano,  and  elsewhere  did  not 
distinguish  between  the  two  voyages,  hence  the  confusion.  Today  scholars  assign 
to  the  second  voyage  all  of  the  exploration  in  the  far  north  and  in  the  more  southern 
latitudes. 

In  regard  to  the  first  voyage,  there  is  a  sharp  controversy  over  the  identity  of 
the  first  landfall  and  the  coast  explored  subsequently.  One  group,  the  largest, 
follows  the  legend  on  the  Cabot  map  of  1544  and  makes  the  landfall  on  Cape 
Breton  Island."  Then  the  subsequent  exploration  was  along  the  south  coast  of 
Newfoundland  as  described  above.  Another  group  contend  that  the  original 
landfall  was  on  the  east  coast  of  Newfoundland.  Others,  including  Harrisse  in  his 
John  and  Sebastian  Cabot67  regard  Cabot's  first  contact  with  the  New  World  as 
occurring  at  some  point  on  the  coast  of  Labrador.  Harrisse  later  on  in  his  Decou- 
verte  et  Evolution  Cartographique  de  Terre  Neuve  was  very  doubtful  that  the 
landfall  of  Cabot  would  ever  be  determined.  However  all  of  the  early  charts  mark 
Cabot's  landfall  on  Labrador.68 

Alexander  von  Humboldt,69  using  the  La  Cosa  map,  thought  that  Cabot  prob- 
ably crossed  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  from  Cape  Breton,  explored  the  south  shore 
of  the  Labrador  peninsula,  and  then  returned  to  England  by  way  of  the  Strait  of 
Belle-Isle.  Kohl60  could  not  accept  this  view  while  Henry  Stevens61  partially 
favored  it.  In  favor  of  the  Cape  Breton  landfall,  Dawson62  argues  that  after  Cabot 
had  sailed  north  from  Ireland  and  then  west  he  would  have  a  northernly  drift 
while  under  the  influence  of  the  Gulf  stream.  This  influence  would  cease  after  he 
has  passed  the  40th  parallel  of  west  longitude.  Then  he  would  have  entered  the 
Arctic  or  Labrador  current  which  would  have  carried  him  south.  To  neutralize 
this  there  is  a  prevailing  south  or  southwest  wind  during  June  that  would  have 


5<  H.  P.  Biggar:  The  Precursors  of  Jacques  Cartier,  1497-1534  as  cited,  pp.  XII-XIV. 

65  Clements  R.  Marlcham:  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus  and  Documents  Relating  to  the  Voyages  of  John  Cabot 
and  Gaspar  Corte  Real,  pp.  201-208. 

66  Samuel  E.  Dawson:  Voyages  of  the  Cabots  in  1497  and  1498,  in  Proceedings  and  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Canada,  1894.  Vol.  XII,  Sec.  II,  p.  61.  Also  by  the  same,  The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots  in  1497  and  1498,  a  Sequel  to  a 
Paper  in  the  "Transactions"  of  1894.  Proceedings  and  Transactions,  etc.,  second  series,  Vol.  II,  1896,  and  the  Voyages  of  the 
Cabots.  Latest  Phase  of  the  Controversy.  Second  Series,  Vol.  Ill,  sec.  II. 

47  Henry  Harrisse:  John  Cabot  the  Discoverer  of  North  America  and  Sebastian  His  Son,  pp.  69-84. 

68  Henry  Harrisse:  Decourverte  et  Evolution  Cartographique  de  Terre-Nueve,  pp.  14-25. 

'•Alexander  von  Humboldt:  Introduction  to  Dr.  Ghillany,  Geschichte  des  Seefahres  Ritter,  Martin  Behaim. 

MJ.  G.  Kohl:  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Maine,  Vol.  I  Doc.  Hist,  of  the  State  of  Maine,  pp.  121-146,  151-155  and 
358-377. 

61  Henry  Stevens:  Historical  and  Geographical  Notes  1453-1530,  p.  15. 

61  Samuel  E.  Dawson:  Voyages  of  the  Cabots.  Pro.  and  Trans,  of  the  Royal  Soc.  of  Canada,  1894.  Vol.  XII,  Sec.  II, 
Ap.  62. 

14 


THE  CABOT  LANDFALL 

tended  to  carry  the  boat  to  the  north.  Moreover  Cabot  would  have  passed,  about 
23  degrees  west  longitude,  the  point  of  no  variation  of  the  compass.  As  the  voyage 
continued  the  variation  would  have  increased  up  to  15  degrees  west  of  north. 
Therefore  Cabot,  while  he  was  assuming  that  he  was  sailing  west,  might  have 
sailed  a  course,  a  point  and  a  half  south  of  west.  In  this  way  Cabot  would  have 
reached  Cape  Breton  for  his  first  landfall. 

Dawson  contends  for  this  landing  because  the  letters  speak  of  a  mild  climate 
where  brasil  and  silk  might  be  produced  and  because  there  was  an  abundance  of  fish 
in  the  month  of  June.  He  also  assumes  an  exploration  from  the  west  towards  the 
east,  of  a  coast  that  extended  very  nearly  on  an  east-west  line.  All  the  time  the 
map  of  La  Cosa62»  is  accepted  as  a  cartographical  record  of  the  Cabot  voyage. 
Dawson  objects  to  Harrisse's  contention  for  a  landfall  on  the  coast  of  Laborador, 
that  the  climate  there  is  Arctic,  that  the  fish  do  not  arrive  there  in  the  month  of 
June,  that  there  could  be  no  thought  of  silk  produced  there,  and  finally  that  the 
Laborador  coast  could  be  reached  only  with  great  difficulty  during  the  month 
of  June  on  account  of  the  ice  of  which  there  is  no  mention  in  any  of  the  accounts 
of  the  first  voyage. 

Some  of  these  difficulties  are  more  imaginary  than  real.  It  is  true  there  is  no 
mention  of  ice  in  the  accounts  of  the  first  voyage.  However,  Raimondo  di  Soncino 
speaks  of  Cabot  having  wandered  for  a  long  time  before  he  hit  upon  land.  There 
is  in  this  expression  evidence  of  some  difficulty, — perhaps  ice.  Moreover  the 
Bristol  sailors  who  were  much  engaged  in  fishing  in  Iceland  waters  would  probably 
not  have  regarded  the  presence  of  ice  as  a  thing  worth  mentioning  unless  it  was 
impassable. 

As  for  the  arguments  based  on  the  presence  of  fish  in  large  numbers  it  is  a  pure 
assumption  to  ascribe  that  discovery  to  the  day  land  was  discovered.  None  of  the 
accounts  assign  a  date  to  the  finding  of  the  fish.  Any  time  during  the  presence  of 
the  expedition  on  the  American  coast  would  conform  with  the  accounts.  Land 
was  discovered  on  the  24th  of  June  and  the  expedition  reached  Bristol  on  August 
6th.  As  Cabot  allowed  an  interval  of  fifteen  daysS2b  for  a  return  voyage  from  Ire- 
land to  the  "Newfoundland,"  we  may  assume  that  to  be  the  time  it  took  him  for 
his  return  from  the  first  voyage.  In  that  case,  Cabot  was  on  the  American  coast  up 
to  about  July  22nd.  When  it  is  further  remembered  that  the  English  calendar" 
was,  in  1497,  nine  days  in  arrears,  according  to  the  Gregorian  manner  of  counting, 
Cabot  did  not  leave  the  American  coast  until  about  July  31st — not  too  late  to  find 
an  abundance  of  fish  on  the  Labrador  coast  according  to  Dawson's  own  data.*4 


M*  See  Dawson  reference  above,  note  62.  Appendix  A,  Champlain's  Explanation  of  Two  Maps  of  New  France  in  His 
"Voyages"  1613,  etc.,  for  instructions  in  navigating  the  Atlantic  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  desired  latitudes,  pp.  93-95.  For 
Harrisse's  answer  see  Decouverte  et  Evolution,  etc.,  pp.  22-25. 

Mb  See  La  Cosa  Map,  Nordenskidld,  Periplus,  plate  XLIII-XLIV. 

•to  C.  R.  Markham:  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  etc.,  p.  205. 

M  S.  E.  Dawson:  The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots,  Latest  Phases  of  the  Controversy.  Proc.  and  Trans,  of  the  Royal  Soc- 
of  Canada,  Second  Series,  Vol.  Ill,  1897,  p.  155. 

M  S.  E.  Dawson:  The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots  in  1497  and  1498.  A  Sequel  to  a  Paper  in  the  Transactions  of  1894,  Proc 
and  Trans,  of  the  Royal  Soc.  of  Canada,  see  Series,  Vol.  II,  Appendix  G,  p.  28-29.     Fish  arrive  at  Conception  Bay,  New- 
foundland, mean  date,  June  1st;  Bonavista  Bay,  June  10th;  Notre  Dame  Bay,  June  20th;  Chateau  Bay,  Labrador,  June  20th; 
Batteaux,  July  12th;  Indian  Harbor,  July  15th;  Cape  Harrison,  July  18th;  Aillik,  July  20th  and  at  Ukkasiksalik,  Nain  and 
Okak,  July  28th. 

15 


THE  CABOT  LANDFALL 

Moreover,  if  the  Cabot  map  of  1544  is  to  be  accepted  as  evidence  in  regard  to  the 
first  landfall  it  must  also  be  accepted  in  regard  to  its  description  of  the  country. 
The  eighth  legend65  distinctly  says  of  the  land  of  Prima  Tierra  Vista  that  it  is 
"very  sterile  and  there  are  in  it  many  white  bears."  This  is  not  a  description  of 
Cape  Breton  but  belongs  rather  to  Labrador  or  Greenland.  Polar  bears  and  a 
very  sterile  country  are  not  in  accord  with  the  statement  that  the  land  is  excellent 
and  temperate  suggesting  that  brasil  and  silk  grow  there.  In  fact,  it  is  a  matter  of 
doubt  whether  Soncino  refers  to  the  "Newfoundland"  or  to  the  country  of  the 
Tanais  where  Cabot  had  been,  when  he  refers  to  the  land  being  excellent  and  the 
climate  temperate.  Another  possible  interpretation  would  assign  the  silk  and 
brasil  to  some  art  of  the  "Newfoundland"  because  it  was  assumed  to  be  a  part  of 
Asia  and  a  part  therefore  of  the  land  of  the  Grand  Cam  where  both  brasil  and  silk 
were  known  to  be  produced. 

The  La  Cosa  map  together  with  the  four  Roselli's,  the  Johann  Ruysch  map  of 
1508,  and  the  Schoner  maps  after  1523,  are  in  all  probability  records  of  the  John 
Cabot  voyage  of  1497.  The  Roselli  oval  map  indicates  that  exploration  along  a 
coast  tending  east-west  in  50  degrees  north  latitude.  La  Cosa  seems  to  place  it 
about  55  degrees  north,  Ruysch  between  50  and  55  degrees  north,  Roselli  British 
Museum  map  above  60  degrees  north,  and  Schoner  1523  almost  60  degrees  north. 
If  these  maps  are  based  on  contemporary  accounts  even  of  a  hearsay  nature  derived 
from  John  Cabot,  then  the  Pasqualigo  letter  makes  it  necessary  to  find  a  coast 
supposed  to  extend  east  and  west  for  more  than  300  leagues.  Also,  there  must  be 
found  two  very  large  islands  to  the  south  of  this  coast.  The  south  coast  of  New- 
foundland offers  only  a  little  over  100  miles  of  east-west  coast  and  this  moreover 
does  not  answer  the  needs  of  the  La  Cosa  map  because  there  are  no  very  large 
islands  near  and  the  two  peninsulas  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the  island  offer  too 
great  a  prominence  to  be  overlooked  in  a  map  record.  On  the  whole  it  would  seem 
that  the  conditions  of  the  letters  and  of  the  map  series  would  best  be  served  by  a 
combination  of  the  Harrisse68  and  von  Humboldt  hypotheses.  Cabot,  probably 
attempting  to  sail  a  great  circle*  route  to  Asia,  set  a  course  northwest  from  Ireland. 
It  is  ridiculous  to  speak  of  his  seeking  a  northwest  passage  when  thdre  was  not 
known  to  be  any  land  between  Europe  and  Asia.  On  his  northwest  course  he 
discovered  his  first  land  at  some  point  on  the  Labrador  coast  north  of  the  entrance 
to  the  Strait  of  Belle-Isle.  Then  in  a  coasting  voyage  he  entered  the  strait  and 
followed  the  north  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  westward  to  a  point  west 
of  Anticosti  Island.  It  was  this  coast  that  he  expected  to  be  able  to  follow  west- 
ward until  he  was  opposite  the  island  of  Cipangu.  On  his  return  he  retraced  the 
same  coast  because  it  was  the  shortest  way  back  to  England.  Then  the  two  very 
large  islands  seen  to  the  right  were  Anticosti  and  Newfoundland. 


65  Eighth  legend  Cabot  map,  from  a  photographic  copy  of  the  original.    Letter  of  Raimondo  de  Soncino,  18th  December, 
1497  in  C.  R.  Markham:  The  Journal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  etc.,  p.  203-6. 

**  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  Biddle,  Kohl,  Henry  Stevens  and  Harrisse  incline  to  a  Labrador  landing. 

*Note:  If  we  give  John  Cabot  credit  for  attempting  to  sail  a  great  circle  route,  it  is  the  first  attempt  of  such  a  nature 
to  be  found  in  the  history  of  navigation. 

16 


THE  CABOT  LANDFALL 

Peter  Martyr67  reports  that  Sebastian  Cabot  found  a  current  of  the  waters 
towards  the  west  but  that  the  current  was  more  gentle  than  the  Spaniards  found  to 
the  south.  There  are  no  ocean  currents  to  the  west  off  the  coast  of  northeastern 
North  America.  The  Gulf  Stream  flows  northeast,  the  Labrador  current  southeast 
and  south,  while  the  stream  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  flows  to  the  east.  It  may 
well  be  that  Peter  Martyr  misunderstood  Sebastian  Cabot  and  so  made  to  flow 
towards  the  west  a  current  that  came  from  the  west.  In  that  case  the  notice  of  this 
ocean  current  becomes  a  further  argument  that  John  Cabot  entered  the  Gulf  of 
the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  only  important  contradiction  to  this  hypothesis  is  the  assumed  fact  that 
Cabot  made  his  exploration  from  west  to  east.  This  assumption  is  made  on  the 
theory  that  the  Cavo  descubierto  represents  the  first  land  seen,  and  that  C.  Fastan- 
astre  stands  for  Cape  Finisterre — the  last  land — when  departing  from  America  on 
the  homeward  voyage.  However,  this  assumption  need  not  be  an  insuperable 
obstacle  to  the  hypothesis  of  a  north  coast  of  the  St.  Lawrence  exploration  if  it  is 
noted  that  there  is  no  proof  whatever  that  either  of  these  assumptions  is  true. 
There  are  however  several  facts  that  militate  against  them.  {A)  There  is  a  C.  de  S. 
Johan  instead  of  an  island  St.  John  at  the  eastward  end  of  the  Cabot  coast  on  the 
LaCosa  map.  (B)  Cavo  descubierta  instead  of  being  at  eitherend  of  the  row  of 
English  flags  appears  about  the  middle  of  the  series  of  five.  (C)  The  name  of  the 
sea  along  the  coast  of  which  the  names  and  flags  are  placed,  Mar  descubierta  por 
ing/ese,  indicates  that  it  was  regarded  as  something  distinct  from  the  main  ocean 
which  is  named  Oceanus  in  general.  If  Cabot  had  passed  between  two  bodies  of  land 
as  he  would  in  sailing  through  the  strait  of  Belle-Isle,  then  it  would  be  proper  to 
speak  of  the  sea  beyond  as  a  Mar  as  distinct  from  the  main  ocean.  The  name  Mar 
in  the  sense  of  a  bay  or  gulf  occurs  several  times  on  the  La  Cosa  map98  as  Mar  de 
Espanay  Mar  de  Libia,  Mar  Etiopia  Oriental  and  Mare  bermaja,  while  the  main 
Ocean  is  called  Mare  Ocean  urn. 

Finally  the  direction  of  the  coast  line  itself  is  a  most  important  indication  of 
the  region  discovered.    The  north  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  is  the  only  shore 


67  Peter  Martyr:  De  Orbe  Novo,  McNutt  edition,  Vol.  I,  p.  347. 

68  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus  map  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  plate  XLIII  and  XLIV. 

LEGENDS  ON  THE  LA  COSA  MAP  ACCORDING  TO  DAWSON  AND  HARRISSE: 


1.  Cavo  descubierto 

8. 

S.  luzia 

St.  luzia  (No.  9) 

15.  S.  Nicolas 

2.  C.  de  S.  Jorge 

9. 

C.  de  lisarto 

16.  Cavo  de  S.  Johan 

C°  de  S  Jorge 

C°  de  lisarte  (No.  8) 

Cauo  de  S.  iohan 

3.  1  ago  for 

10. 

menistre 

17.  agron 

lago  fori 

4.  An  for 

11. 

argair  or  argare 

18.  C.  fastanatra 

ansro 

C  fastanastre 

5.  C.  de  S.  luzia 

12. 

fonte  or  forte 

19.  Cavo  de  Ynglaterra 

C°  de  S.  luzia 

6.  requilia 

13. 

rio  longo 

20.  S.  grigor 

requila 

R°  longo 

7.  jusquei 

14. 

ilia  de  la  trenidat 

21.  Y  Verde 

Isla  de  la  trenidat 

Y»  Verde 

S.  E.  Dawson:  The  Voyages  of  the  Cabots,  etc.,  Proc.  and  Trans,  of  the  Royal  Soc.  of  Canada,  2nd  Series,  Vol.  II,  1896, 
p.  17  and  Henry  Harrisse:  Decouverte  et  Evolution  Cartographique  de  Terre-Neuve,  p.  215.  The  second  reading  is  from 
Harrisse. 

17 


THE  CABOT  LANDFALL 

anywhere  on  the  east  coast  of  North  America  where  there  is  to  be  found  such  an 
extensive  east  and  west  stretch  of  coast.  The  south  coast  of  Newfoundland  does 
not  offer  it  to  the  extent  required  and  besides,  the  two  extensive  peninsulas  at  the 
southeastern  part  of  Newfoundland  largely  destroy  the  impression  of  an  east-west 
coast.  The  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  cannot  answer  because  of  its  west-southwest, 
east-northeast  direction.  In  the  latter  case,  the  compass  directions  due  to  magnetic 
variation  as  supposed  by  Dawson  for  the  time  of  Cabot's  voyage  would  exaggerate 
the  west-southwest,  east-northeast  direction  of  the  Nova  Scotia  coast  into  a 
southwest-northeast  direction. 

A  most  important  confirmation  of  a  Cabot  exploration  of  the  north  shore  of 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  is  found  in  a  Portuguese  map  of  the  first  years  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century.  The  map  is  known  as  Kunstmann's  number  three.89  The  map 
is  neither  named  nor  dated  but  Kohl,70  Peschel,71  Harrisse,72  and  Winsor"  assign 
it  to  the  years  from  1502  to  1505.  This  map  is  derived  from  Portuguese  sources 
and  is  so  much  more  strikingly  accurate  in  its  contours  than  other  contemporary 
maps  of  the  northeastern  part  of  North  America  as  to  at  once  arrest  attention. 

The  position  of  Iceland,  Greenland,  and  the  opening  between  Greenland  and 
Labrador  are  hardly  improved  upon  for  a  hundred  years.  The  names  on  the 
Greenland  are  in  part  those  on  the  King-Hamy  chart  and  the  Kunstmann  No.  11, 
but  the  coast  directions  and  geographical  relations  to  America  and  northwestern 
Europe  are  greatly  different. 

The  feature  which  is  most  pertinent  for  this  study  is  the  long  east-west  coast 
starting  south  of  Cabo  de  Cocepicion.  That  this  is  not  the  south  coast  of  New- 
foundland is  proven  by  the  coastline  extending  south  from  Cabo  de  Cocepicion. 
Concerning  this  coast  Kohl74  said  he  could  not  determine  what  it  was  intended  to 
represent.  He  accepted  the  east-west  coast  as  that  of  the  south  coast  of  New- 
foundland continuing  as  far  west  as  Maine.  The  name  of  Cape  Race  does  not 
appear  on  the  map.  Taking  this  fact  into  consideration  together  with  the  position 
of  the  east-west  coast  with  reference  to  the  unnamed  south  coast  it  would  appear 
that  this  map  represents  the  entrance  to  the  St.  of  Belle-Isle  and  the  north  shore 
of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  after  the  Cabot  voyage  of  1497,  and  in  that  case  this 
Portuguese  map  is  a  most  important  record  of  the  Cabot  exploration. 

It  must  be  admitted  however  that  the  whole  Cabot  exploration  is  a  matter 
of  great  obscurity.  Nevertheless  the  four  Roselli  maps  in  common  with  the  La 
Cosa  map,  Kunstmann  III,  the  Ruysch  map  of  1508,  and  the  later  Schdner  maps, 
seem  to  indicate  an  east-west  exploration.  This  record  cannot  be  due  to  the  Corte- 
Real  voyages  because  all  of  the  maps  carrying  the  names  derived  from  those  voyages 
indicate  a  north  and  south  coast  exploration.    In  this  connection  it  is  curious  that 


69  F.  Kunstmann:  Atlas  zur  Entdeckungsgeschichte  Amerikas,  plate  III. 

70  J.  G.  Kohl:  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Maine,  Vol.  I.   Doc.  Hist,  of  the  State  of  Maine,  pp.  174-177. 

71  Oscar  Peschel:  Geschichte  des  Zeitalters  der  Entdeckungen,  p.  331. 

7*  Henry  Harrisse:  Les  Corte  Real,  etc.,  pp.  146-151.   Henry  Harrisse:  Decouverte  et  Evolution,  etc.,  pp.  51-5-*. 

11  Justin  Winsor:  The  Kohl  Collection  of  Maps  Relation  to  America,  p.  31. 

74  J.  G.  Kohl:  History  of  the  Discovery  of  Maine,  Vol.  I  Doc.  Hist,  of  the  State  of  Maine,  p.  177. 

18 


THE  FOURTH  VOYAGE  OF  COLUMBUS 

the  Sebastian  Cabot  map  of  1544  would  seem  to  reflect  the  earlier  cartography  of 
the  northeastern  coast  of  North  America  with  its  rio  duce  inlet  north  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  Gulf.  This  map  seems  to  be  derived  in  large  part  from  the  Pedro  Reinel75 
map  of  about  1505.  Cabot  broke  up  the  Newfoundland  area  into  a  series  of  islands 
and  placed  the  Cartier  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  back  of  these  islands  meanwhile 
retaining  a  considerable  proportion  of  Reinel's  names  for  the  Newfoundland 
island  group. 

One  curious  fact  about  this  portion  of  the  Roselli  maps  is  that  Roselli  should 
apparently  reject  the  Columbus  claims  to  have  reached  the  mainland  of  Asia  in 
his  Cuba  on  the  first  and  second  voyages  while  he  so  readily  accepted  the  Cabot 
claim  to  have  reached  the  land  of  the  Great  Cam.  In  the  one  case,  he  rejected  the 
Columbus  and  adhered  to  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  Longitudes.  In  the  other,  he 
distorted  the  whole  northeast  of  Asia,  moved  the  great  province  of  Tangut  out  of 
place  and  prolonged  it  so  as  to  approach  within  15  degrees  of  Ireland. 

In  a  very  much  more  definite  way  Roselli's  maps  are  a  record  of  Columbus' 
fourth  voyage  in  which  he  discovered  Central  America  while  seeking  a  passageway 
into  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  British  Museum  map76  contains  a  lengend  off  the  c  ast 
of  eastern  Asia  as  follows: — "Cristophorvs  Colvmbvs  vcerex  Hispanie  occidete 
versvs  navigans  post  mvltos  labores  et  pericvla  pervenit  ad  insvlas  Hispanas  Dein 
illic  solves  navigavit  ad  provicia  appellata  Ciamba  Postea  cotvlit  se  in  hvnc  locvm 
qui  vd  ipse  Christophorvs  diligentiss.  Rervm  marittimarum  Pscrvtator  asserit 
habet  vim  avri  maximam." 

"Christopher  Columbus,  Viceroy  of  Spain,  sailing  westwards,  reached  the 
Spanish  Islands  after  many  hardships  and  dangers.  Weighing  anchor  thence  he 
sailed  to  the  province  called  Ciamba.  Afterwards  he  betook  himself  to  this  place 
which,  as  Christopher  himself,  that  most  diligent  investigator  of  maritime  things, 
asserts,  holds  a  great  store  of  gold." 

This  inscription  appears  in  the  space  between  the  coast  of  eastern  Asia  and  the 
island  of  Zipagu.  The  space  between  the  west  end  of  Espanola  (here  Hespaniold) 
and  eastern  Zipagu  is  about  37  degrees.  The  interval  between  Espanola  and 
eastern  Asia  is  75  degrees.  The  island  of  Yssabella  from  the  Cantino  map  is  changed 
in  name  but  not  in  outline  to  Terra  de  Cuba.  The  interval  between  the  mainland  of 
South  America — Terra  S.  Crucis — to  the  mainland  of  eastern  Asia  is  90  degrees 
on  the  10th  parallel  of  north  latitude. 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  maker  of  the  British  Museum  map  of  1506, 
after  having  completed  his  world  map  on  the  Ptolemy-Marco  Polo-Behaim  concep- 
tion with  the  Behaim  longitudes  for  eastern  Asia  on  the  right  hand  side  of  his  map 
and  the  new  Spanish,  English  and  Portuguese  discoveries  on  the  left  hand  side, 
received  news  of  the  fourth  voyage  of  Columbus  together  with  his  claim  that  he 
had  reached  eastern  Asia  and  visited  the  coast  of  Ciamba.  There  was  no  time  to 
digest  the  Columbus  reports  or  to  reconcile  the  Columbian  geography  with  the 
already  accepted  Ptolemy-Marco  Polo-Behaim  geography.       Apparently  as  an 


75  F.  Kunstmann:  Atlas  Zur  Entdeckungsgeschichte  Amerikas,  map  of  Pedro  Reinel,  plate  I,  date  about  1505. 

76  A  Map  of  the  World  Designed  by  Gio.  Matteo  Contarini,  Engraved  by  Fran.  Roselli,  1506,  p.  12. 

19 


THE  FOURTH  VOYAGE  OF  COLUMBUS 

afterthought  the  legend  concerning  the  Columbus  fourth  voyage  was  placed  on  the 
map.  No  notice  was  taken  of  the  inconsistency  of  the  distance  between  Espanola 
and  Ciamba,  of  the  fact  that  Cuba, — following  the  Cantino-Canerio  pattern, — was 
made  an  island  while  Columbus  regarded  it  as  part  of  the  mainland  of  Asia,  and  of 
the  duplication  of  Espanola,  which  Columbus  regarded  as  Cipango,  with  another 
Zipagu  so  placed  that  Columbus  must  have  found  it  on  his  voyage  to  Ciamba. 
Finally  the  map  maker  showed  no  conception  of  the  fact  that  Columbus  seemed 
to  realize78 •  as  a  result  of  his  fourth  voyage  that  South  America — the  Mondo  Novo — 
was  probably  linked  together  with  the  mainland  of  what  Columbus  regarded  as 
Asia.  Apparently  the  map  was  already  completed  or  nearly  so,  when  the  first 
news  of  Columbus'  fourth  voyage  reached  Italy. 

It  is  different  in  the  case  of  the  oval  map  [frontispiece]  known  as  Roselli  B. 
While  the  Roselli  B  map  in  all  other  areas  is  minus  the  detail  in  legends  and  names 
found  on  the  Roselli-Contarini  map,  it  is  crowded  with  names  not  found  on  the 
latter  on  the  coast  of  eastern  Asia  from  Cathai  to  Moabar.  These  names  are 
almost  all  derived  from  the  Columbus  fourth  voyage.  This  fact  establishes  this 
map  as  one  of  the  most  important  records  left  to  us  of  the  fourth  voyage  of  Colum- 
bus. It  ranks  next  in  importance  to  the  map  of  Bartholomew  Columbus  and  the 
letters  of  the  Admiral.  In  its  portrayal  of  the  contemporary  understanding  of 
the  work  of  Columbus  it  is  a  most  important  link,  greatly  assisting  in  the  reconcili- 
ation of  the  many  conflicting  types  of  contemporary  maps. 

There  are  fourteen  names  placed  along  the  coast  of  eastern  Asia  from  Qiiisei 
(Kinsay)  in  the  province  of  Mangi  to  Moabar.  In  order  to  trace  the  source  of 
Roselli's  names  there  is  listed  below  the  names  given  by  Columbus  to  the 
coast  of  Central  America  as  found  in  the  Columbus  Jamaica77  letter,  the 
Bartholomew  Columbus78  map  and  letter,  and  the  accounts  of  Fernando  Colum- 
bus,79 Las  Cases,80  Peter  Martyr,81  Oviedo82  and  Enciso.83  These  names  are 
to  be  compared  with  those  found  on  the  Roselli  B  and  C  maps. 

From  the  names  north  of  Banassa  it  would  appear  that  Roselli  used  the  map  or 
letter  of  Bartholomew  Columbus  or  information  derived  therefrom  since  the  names 
which  appear  to  be  intended  for  Oalava,  Manava  and  Oaquecoco,  appear  on  no  other 
source.  The  third  of  these  names  is  so  badly  written  on  the  Roselli  B  map  as  to  be 
entirely  illegible  but  there  appears  no  doubt  as  to  what  the  name  is  when  it  is 
compared  with  the  corresponding  name  on  the  Roselli  C  map.  Banassa  and  C.  de 
Gratia  a  Dios  cause  no  difficulty.     Banassa  is  evidently  Guanaja,  Guanas sa,  or 


76tt  F.  R.  v.  Wieser:  Die  Karte  des  Bartolomeo  Colombo,  Fig.  4,  5  and  6  this  monograph.  Peter  Martyr:  De  Orbe  Novo, 
McNutt  ed.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  271  and  330. 

77  Christopher  Columbus:  Jamaica  Letter,  7th  July,  1503,  in  C.  R.  Markham:  Select  Letters  of  Christopher  Columbus, 
2nded.,  pp.  175-211. 

78  Fr.  R.  v.  Weiser:  De  Carte  des  Bartolomeo  Colombo,  etc. 

"Fernando  Colombo:  Historie  etc.  ed.  Venetia  1678,  chap.  89-100,  pp.  390-454. 

80  B.  de  Las  Cases:  Historia  de  las  Indias,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  108-152. 

81  Peter  Martyr:  De  Orbe  Novo,  McNutt  ed.,  Vol.  I,  p.  316-327. 

82  G.  F.  de  Oviedo  y  Valdes:  Historia  General  y  Natural  de  Las  Indias,  Tomo  I,  pp.  77-81,  lib.  Ill,  cap.  VIII. 

83  M.  F.  de  Enciso:  Suma  de  Geographia  photostat  copy,  plates  73-75. 

20 


COLUMBUS  FOURTH 

VOYAGE  LETTER 

FROM  JAMAICA 

7  JULY,  1503 

Cabo  de  Gracias  a  Dios 

Cariay 

Ciamba 

Carambaru 

Veragua 

Ciguare 

Catigara 

Bastimentos 

Retrete 

Puerto  Gordo 

Belem 

Bel  puerto 


BARTHOLOMEW  COLUMBUS  MAP 


BARTOLOMEW 

COLUMBUS    LETTER 

OF  1506 

Oalava 

Manava 

Oaquecoca 

Cao  de  Lama 

Banassa 

Porto  di  Casermas 

R  di  Cobre 

Tena  baxa 

porto  di  Consucla 

Mai  a 

Cariai 

Carambaru 

Careba 

Beraga 

Porto  Grosso 

El  Bel  Porto 

P  de  Bastimentos 

Retrete 

Gol/o  di  denol 


This  coast  is  the  same  as  that 
bracketed  above  but  coasted 
in  a  reverse  direction. 


[  Fig.  4  ] 
Serica 

serica  montss 

oalaua 

manaua 

oaque  cocao 

c.  de  luna 

R.  de  pinos 

banassa 

Asia 

tena  baxa 

p.  de  consucla 

semathini  monies 

c.  del  I  a  serpe 

cariai 

carambaru 

bele 

beragnia 

p.  gora 

bel  porto 

p.  de  bastimentos 

retrete 

Sinus  Magnus 

Sinarum  Situs 

Cattigra 

FERDINAND 
COLUMBUS 

Guanara 

punta  di  Casine 

costa  dell  Orecchia 

Capo  di  Gratie  a  Dio 

disgratia 

isola  Qjiiriui 

Cariai 

Hucita 

Cerabora 

Aburema 

Guaiga 

Cateva 

Cobrava  (Aurira) 

Beragua 

Cubiga 

Belporto 

Porto  del  Bastimento 

Guiga 

Cerago 

Retrete 

le  Barbe 

marmoro 

Huiua 

Pennon  Pegnone 

Costa  de  contrast! 

Betlem 

Monti  de  San  Christojoro 

Urira 

Dururi 

Zobraba 


[Fig.  5] 
oalaua 
manaua 
c.  de  luna 
p  de  casin 
banassa 
p.  sucl 
R.  del  desara 
c.  della  serpe 
cariai 
carambaru 
Beragua 
boicin 

porto  grosso 
bel  puorto 
bastimeto 
Retrete 
las  bat os 
Catticara 
sinarstatio 


NAMES  GIVEN  BY 

COLUMBUS  ON 

FOURTH  VOYAGE 

LAS  CASES 

Guanaja 

Isle  de  Phi  os 
fCyguare 
?  Veragua 

punta  Caxinas 

Costa  de  la  Oreja 

Cabo  de  Gracias  a  Dios 

Rio  del  desastre 

la  Huerta 

Caravaro 

A  bur  en  a 

Catiba 

Hurira 

Cubeja  or  Cubiga 

puerto  Bello 

puerto  de  Bastimentos 

Guija  or  Guiga 

Retrete 

la  costa  de  los  Contrastes 

Yebra — Belem 

mountains  of 
Sant  Cristobal 

rio  Urird 

Cobraba 

Cateba 

Barbas 

Tortugas 


OVIEDO  Y  VALDES. 
G.  F.  DE 

Guanaxes 

Puerto  de  Honduras 

Punta  de  Caximes 

Gracias  a  Dios 

Veragua 

rio  de  Be/en 

Yebra 

rio  de  Lagartos 

Bastimentos 

Puerto  Bello 

rio  de  Francisca 

Retrete 

Sanct  Bias 

Cabo  del  Marmol 


ROSELLI  1532 
[Frontispiece] 

Tagut  Provicia  Magna 

polisancu  f. 

Provicia 

Cathai 

Cathaio 

quisei 

Provl 

magi 
?TaBa  (Tebe  =  Tebet) 

c  de  luna 

Oalauia 

Manaia 
foaque  cocao 

banassa 

c  de  gracia  a  dios 
Ppota  dmarador 

carabaro 

aburema 

Beragua 

Careba 

belpuorto 

Chime 

metro  (polis) 
p  de  bastimento 

Catogara 

Moabar 

lava  Maior 


PETER  MARTYR, 
DEX)RBE  NOVO 

Guanassa 

Qu  iriquetana — Cia  m  ba 

Ta'ia 

Mai  a 

Quatro  Tempore 

Limonares 

Quicuri 

Cariai 

Mirobolan 

Cerabaroa 

Aburema 

5  villages  of  Chirara, 
Pureny  Chitaza, 
Jurech  and  Atamea. 

many  rivers 

Acateba,  Quareba, 
Zobroba,  Aiaguitiny 
fVrida,  Duribba  and 
Veragua. 

Ebetere 

Embigar 

rio  Zahoran 

rio  Cubigar 

Vibba 

Porto  Bello 

Xaguaguara 

Hiebra 


M.  F.  De  ENCISO 

Cartagena 
quodego 
Caramari 
islas  de  Baru 
puerto  del  Cenu 
Mocri 
Cubea 
Cuda 

golfo  de  Uraba 
islajuerte 
la  tortuga 
Darien 
Rio  Grande 
rio  del  dabayne 
puerto  de  car  eta 
puerto  perdido 
nombre  de  dios 
conogie 
pocurosa 
baya  de  San  Bias 
Veragua 
puerto  bello 
jurmia 
coroboro 

Cabo  de  Gracias  a  Dios 
Caxines 


ROSELLI  C 

[Fig.  8] 

Tan  gut  Provincia  Magna 
puliteacul 

R  de  lo  coga 

c.  de  gratia  a  dia 

coromora 

Caraba 

Cathaye 

Tanaba 

oman 

ius  p. 

Mangi 

aburema 

c  de  luna 

Tebe 

ciamba 

fgruga 

belpuorto 
?Frana 

p  deca 

p  de  bastimento 

Teiau 
oalava 

c  de  buelrer  (c  de  Vuelta) 
frarote 

oaqeo 

falnp 

coma 
banassa 

c  pinsado 
iaua  Maior 

R.  de  inos 

THE  FOURTH  VOYAGE  OF  COLUMBUS 

Guanaxes,  of  the  early  Spanish  accounts.  The  name  following  C.  de  Gratia  a  Dios 
cannot  be  deciphered  but  may  refer  to  rio  del  desastre,  or  a  place  called  by  Fernando 
Columbus  disgratia,  where  Columbus  lost  a  boat  and  its  crew.  There  follows  this 
name  four  others  that,  by  themselves,  might  be  read  many  ways,  but  by  com- 
parison with  the  names  given  in  the  various  accounts  appear  beyond  doubt  to  be 
carabaro, — for  Carambaru,  Aburema,  Cateba  and  Beragua.  The  succeeding  name  is 
quite  clearly  Belpuerto  (Puerto  Bello).  Likewise  P.  de  Bastimento  causes  no  diffi- 
culty. To  the  west  of  these  last  two  names,  near  the  coast  of  the  Sinus  Magnus, 
is  a  city  which  seems  to  read  chime  merto,  but  which,  by  comparison  with  the 
British  Museum  map,  is  clearly  thine  Metropolys  and  is  located  a  little  north  of 
Catigara,  a  place  often  mentioned  by  Columbus.  The  whole  coast  explored  by 
Columbus  is  that  part  of  the  east  coast  of  the  Ptolemy-Marco  Polo-Behaim  Asia 
extending  from  the  Province  of  Mangi — Columbus'  Cuba —  through  Ciamba  to 
Moabar.  In  the  sea,  southeast  of  P.  de  Bastimento,  Roselli  placed  the  islands  of 
Candi,  Java  Maior,  Java  and  Sielan,  after  the  Behaim  manner. 

The  Roselli  C  map  contains  several  names  written  over  the  land  part  of  the 
Asiatic  coast,  most  of  which  are  not  decipherable.  It  moreover  contains  two 
names  beyond  the  p  de  bastimento  of  the  B  map,  one  of  which  seems  to  be  C  de 
buelrer,  and  the  other  C.  pinsado.  The  first  of  these  is  probably  C  de  Buelta  or 
Vuelta — the  Cape  of  the  Return.  None  of  the  maps  which  the  writer  has  been 
able  to  inspect,  contain  the  name  of  a  Cape  Pinsado  but  Fernando  Columbus  said 
that  the  last  place  his  father  saw  on  the  coast,  before  sailing  for  Espanola,  was 
Marmoro.  This  appears  on  the  map  in  the  1511  edition  of  Peter  Martyr's  work  as 
el  Marmol.  Oviedo  calls  the  same  place  Cabo  del  Marmol.  There  is  a  place  men- 
tioned in  the  Bartholomew  Columbus  letter  of  1506  by  the  name  golfo  di  denol 
which  seems  to  be  the  same  as  Marmoro  or  el  Marmol.  C  Pintado  may  refer  to 
C  Marmol,  as  the  dictionary  lists  a  substance  marmol  pintado  or  spotted  marble. 

The  greatest  interest  in  these  Roselli  maps  as  a  record  of  Columbus'  fourth 
voyage  and  indeed  of  the  whole  Columbus  work  lies  in  their  relation  to  the  remain- 
ing cartographical  record  of  what  contemporaries  understood  in  regard  to  the 
relation  of  the  Trans-Atlantic  regions  to  eastern  Asia.  Without  this  one  map  of 
Roselli  B  the  record  would  be  incomplete.  No  other  mappemonde  remaining  to  us 
shows  a  Columbus  exploration  on  the  coast  of  Asia  according  with  his  7th  of  July 
letter  from  Jamaica  in  such  a  manner  that  it  may  not  be  maintained  that  the 
cartographer  really  represented  a  land  midway  between  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia 
and  Europe,  excepting  of  course  the  map  sketches  of  Bartholomew  Columbus. 

With  the  Roselli  B  map  we  may  arrange  a  complete  series84  illustrating  the 
conflict  of  the  Columbian  and  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  schools  of  geography.  If  the 
date  of  1500  be  accepted  for  the  La  Cosa85  map,  it  is  the  first  mappenonde  made 
after  the  discovery  in  1492  and  may  be  accepted  as  type  I  of  the  early  maps.  It 
represents  the  world  from  a  point  a  little  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges  to  a  point 


84  For  an  excellent  map  classification  somewhat  different  in  result  and  based  on  different  principles  see  E.  L.  Stevenson: 
Typical  Early  Maps  of  the  New  World.  Bui.  of  the  Am.  Geog.  Soc,  April  1907.    Vol.  XXXIX,  No.  4,  pp.  193-200. 

85  There  are  no  other  maps  known  which  follow  the  La  Cosa  map  as  a  type. 

23 


EARLY  MAP  TYPES 

in  Central  America.  Just  what  portion  of  the  entire  world  this  was  intended  to 
represent  is  a  question  that  involves  of  course  the  identity  of  the  Trans-Atlantic 
lands.  Were  the  western  shores  of  the  Atlantic  a  part  of  a  new  world  or  a  part  of 
eastern  Asia?  Ravenstein  employs  a  measure  of  41  degrees86  for  the  length  of  the 
Mediterranean  as  the  unit  for  measuring  maps  not  provided  with  longitude  gradu- 
ation. The  measure  is  taken  from  Gibraltar  to  Issus.  The  whole  map  is  r?  the 
length  of  the  Mediterranean.  If  this  length  is  41  degrees  the  whole  map  covers  a 
space  of  217  degrees.  If  however  we  remember  the  general  acceptance  of  Ptolemy 
and  use  his  value  of  62  degrees  for  the  Mediterranean  La  Cosa's  map  extends 
through  a  longitude  of  328  degrees.  In  that  case  it  becomes  highly  probable  that  the 
Columbian  discoveries  were  supposed  by  La  Cosa  to  be  a  part  of  eastern  Asia. 
If  however  we  remember  that  Columbus  used  a  modulus  of  56  2/3  Italian  nautical 
miles  to  a  degree,  and  convert  the  Ptolemy  degrees  of  62>£  miles  into  the  Columbian 
degrees,  then  the  La  Cosa  map  represents  f?  x  -^^6  =  360  +  degrees.  Since 
La  Cosa  divided  his  east  from  the  west  in  the  middle  of  Asia  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  was  intended  to  be  the  relation  of  the  two  extremes  of  his  map,  and  there 
are  no  names  or  legends  on  his  map  to  help  us. 

The  Cantino  and  Canerio  charts87  may  be  taken  as  type  II.  Both  of  these 
maps  divide  the  east  from  the  west  in  the  same  manner  as  La  Cosa.  The  separation 
in  this  case  occurs  east  of  the  Malacca  peninsula  through  the  middle  of  what 
corresponds  in  other  maps  to  the  Sinus  Magnus,  here  unnamed.  We  have  shown 
above  however  [page  6]  that  there  are  a  number  of  criteria  by  which  we  may  be 
assured  that  the  makers  of  both  of  these  maps  regarded  the  west  shore  of  the 
Atlantic  as  assuredly  a  part  of  eastern  Asia. 

A  third  type  is  the  Hamy-King  chart88  usually  considered  to  belong  to  the 
period  about  1502.  This  chart  indicates  on  the  right  hand  side  a  completed  Asia 
of  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  pattern,  but  minus  the  island  of  Cipango.  On  the  left  hand 
side  are  found  the  islands  discovered  by  Columbus  but  since  there  is  no  longitude 
graduation  we  cannot  say  what  was  the  relation  of  these  islands  to  the  mainland 
of  Asia.     (See  above  page  9). 

The  conflict  of  the  Columbian  geography  with  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  concept 
becomes  more  apparent  with  type  IV  represented  by  the  Lenox  globe.89  When  the 
cartographer  placed  his  map  on  a  globe  or  when  he  used  a  longitude  graduation  he 
was  forced  to  abandon  the  device  of  separating  his  map  somewhere  in  eastern  Asia. 
He  had  to  account  for  the  entire  360  degrees  of  the  earth's  circumference.    Then  he 


86  E.  G.  Ravenstein:  Martin  Behaim,  His  Life  and  His  Globe,  p.  64. 

87  A  map  of  the  Cantino-Canerio  type  is  The  Carta  Marina  of  Waldseemiiller  1516.  Fischer  and  v.  Wieser:  The  Oldest 
Map  with  the  Name  America,  etc. 

88  A.  E.  Nordenskiold,  Periplus,  plate  XLV. 

Other  maps  of  the  Hamy-King  type  are  Hydrographia  sive  Charta  Marina  in  the  1513  Ptolemy,  Nordenskiold  Facsimile 
Atlas,  plate  XXXV,  and  the  Laurentius  Frisius  map  1522  in  the  Ptolemaemus  Argentorati  1522,  Facsimile  Atlas,  plate 
XXXIX.  In  this  last  case  the  entire  360  degrees  of  the  earth's  circumference  are  accounted  for  in  a  longitude  scale  at  the 
bottom  of  the  map. 

89  B.  F.  DeCosta:  Lenox  Globe,  Mag.  of  Am.  Hist.,  Sept.  1879. 

Belonging  to  type  IV  are  the  socalled  Da  Vinci  globe  and  the  Bernardus  Sylvanus  map  of  1511.  Da  Vinci  Globe,  R.  H: 
Major:  Memoir  on  a  Mappemonde  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  etc.  London  1865,  Bernardus  Sylvanus;  A.  E.  Nordenskiold. 
Facsimile  Atlas,  plaf  XXXIII. 

24 


EARLY  MAP  TYPES 

was  compelled  to  show  a  relation  between  the  Columbian  discoveries  and  eastern 
Asia.  The  Lenox  globe  indicates  an  Asia  of  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  pattern  with  the 
island  of  Zipancri  in  the  eastern  ocean.  Separated  at  a  longitudinal  distance  of  60 
degrees  from  the  east  coast  of  Zipancri  lies  the  east  end  of  Spagnolla.  the  Columbian 
Cipango. 

Martin  Waldseemuller90  solved  the  problem  in  a  different  way  in  his  famous 
map  of  1507,  type  V.  On  the  right  hand  side  within  270  degrees  longitude  east  of  the 
Canary  meridian  he  represented  the  concept  of  Ptolemy-Behaim.  Then  in  the  90 
degrees  on  the  left  hand  side  he  drew  the  Columbian  discoveries.  This  accounted 
for  the  entire  360  degrees  of  the  earth's  circumference.  On  the  same  map  he  showed 
both  the  Columbian  and  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  concepts.  There  were  drawn  two 
eastern  Asias  on  the  same  map.  The  only  thing  sacrificed  was  the  Columbian 
longitudes  of  eastern  Asia.  Apparently  also,  Waldseemuller  indicated  the  existence 
of  a  Pacific  Ocean  before  it  had  been  discovered.  However  the  western  shore  of  his 
America  is  not  a  proper  shore  line,  but  instead  bears  the  two  inscriptions  mentioned 
above,  showing  that  what  is  apparently  a  shore  line  is  unexplored  land.  Waldsee- 
muller in  effect  devised  a  map  scheme  where  he  could  let  his  reader  take  his  choice 
between  the  Columbian  and  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  concept.91     (See  above  page  9). 

Still  another  manner  of  dealing  with  the  Columbian-Ptolemy-Behaim  conflict 
was  devised  by  Ruysch  in  his  1508  map92  published  in  the  Ptolemeus  Romae  1508, 
our  type  VI.  Ruysch  greatly  modified  the  Ptolemy-Behaim  contours  of  southern 
Asia  and  distorted  in  northeastern  Asia  a  great  province  called  Tangut  which  he 
converted  into  a  peninsula  reaching  almost  to  Ireland.  On  this  peninsula  he 
represented  the  discoveries  of  Cabot  and  of  Corte-Real.  Then  he  placed  a  scroll 
over  the  west  side  of  Cuba  and  South  America  indicating  more  land.  The  Cuba 
contains  parts  of  the  Cantino-Canerio  names  indicating  its  was  eastern  Asia. 
Finally  there  is  a  legend  to  the  effect  that  Spagnola  (Espanola)  is  regarded  as 
identical  with  Sipagv  (Cipango),  which  does  not  otherwise  appear.  In  this  way 
Ruysch  practically  adopted  the  Waldseemuller  device  for  the  Columbian  dis- 
coveries but  treated  in  a  special  manner  the  work  of  the  Corte  Reals  and  the  Cabots. 

We  have  already  shown  how  the  three  map  sketches  of  the  Bartholomew 
Columbus  letter  presents  another  version,  Type  VII  of  this  problem,  and  have 
called  attention  to  the  legend  that  is  the  key  to  the  solution.  All  seven  of  these 
types  belong  to  the  first  eight  years  of  the  Sixteenth  Century.  Ruysch,  Wald- 
seemuller, Bartholomew  Columbus,  the  maker  of  the  Cantino  chart,  Canerio,  the 
maker  of  the  Lenox  globe,  La  Cosa  and  the  maker  of  the  Hamy-King  chart  all  had 


90  Waldseemuller  map  1507.  J.  Fischer  and  F.  R.  v.  Wieser:  The  Oldest  Map  with  the  name  America.  Plate  I. 
Waldseemuller  type.  Waldseemuller  gores  1507,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Facsimile  Atlas  plate  XXXVII;  Glareanus  1510, 
A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Periplus,  p.  173;  Johann  Schoner  globe  1520,  K.  Kretschmer:  Die  Entdeckung  Amerikas,  tafel  XIII; 
Johann  Schoner  globe  1515,  Dr.  F.  v.  Wieser:  Magalhaes-Strasse,  plate  II;  Petrus  Apianus  1530,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Peri- 
plus plate  XLIV. 

91  A  curious  variation  of  the  Waldseemtiller  map  is  shown  in  Gregorius  Reisch  1515,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Facsimile  Atlas, 
plate  XXX VIII;  Robert  Thome  1527,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Facsimile  Atlas,  plate  XLI,  and  Benedetto  Bordone  1528,  Fig.  1 
this  monograph;  in  all  three  of  which  the  world  ends  to  the  east  or  right  hand  side  in  open  sea  but  on  the  west  or  left  hand 
side  it  ends  in  land,  and  on  two  of  these  maps  there  is  a  longitude  scale  accounting  for  the  full  360  degrees. 

92  [Fig.  9.]  Aside  from  the  Roselli  maps  the  Ruysch  map  stands  alone  in  type  VI.  The  Roselli  maps  have  certain  features 
which  the  present  writer  prefers  tp  treat  in  a  separate  type. 

25 


EARLY  MAP  TYPES 


77~l 


Type  I.    JuandeLaCosa 


Type  II.    Nicolo  de  Canerio 


Type  III.    Hamy-King 


Type  IV.    Lenox  Globe 


Type  VI.    Ruysch 


Type  V.    Waldseemuller 


L* 


T 


Type  VII.     Bartholomew  Columbus 


Type  VIII.    Contarini-Roselli 


26 


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EARLY  MAP  TYPES 

substantially  the  same  information  at  their  disposal.  The  one  most  important 
item  not  possessed  by  the  last  three  was  the  knowledge  derived  from  the  fourth 
voyage  of  Columbus. 

At  this  point  the  introduction  of  the  Roselli  maps,  type  VIII,  will  add  an 
important  factor  in  the  proper  consideration  of  this  greatest  of  problems  of  Sixteenth 
Century  geography.  The  Roselli-Contarini  map  of  1506  [Fig.  7]  is  the  earliest  of 
the  four  Roselli  maps.  On  it  Europe-Asia  is  drawn  after  the  Ptolemy-Behaim 
conception,  the  province  of  Tangut  is  distorted  from  its  Behaim  position  so  as  to 
form  a  peninsula  approaching  Ireland  and  so  offering  a  compromise  over  longitudes 
on  the  Cabot  Corte  Real  explorations  supposed  to  have  been  in  northeastern  Asia. 
It  is  probably  from  this  map  that  Ruysch  borrowed  the  Tangut  peninsula  conception 
for  his  1508  map.  The  Columbus  explorations  were  treated  differently.  His 
Espanola  was  not  accepted  as  Cipango  and  Cuba  was  made  an  island  rather  than 
a  part  of  the  mainland  of  Asia.  However  his  fourth  voyage  during  which  Columbus 
explored  Central  America  was  accepted  as  actually  having  reached  Ciamba  in 
Behaim*  s  eastern  Asia.  The  fact  was  recorded  in  a  legend.  As  was  noted  above, 
however,  Roselli  involved  himself  in  many  inconsistencies.  When  the  Roselli  B 
map  was  made,  probably  very  soon  after  the  1506  map,  Roselli  was  in  possession 
of  the  details  of  the  Columbus  fourth  voyage.  This  map  is  the  only  one  we  have 
remaining  from  an  independent  contemporary  cartographer  showing  Columbus' 
own  conception  of  his  fourth  voyage.  There  was  no  question  as  modern  scholars 
would  have  us  believe  that  Columbus  sought  a  passageway  into  the  Oceanus  Ori- 
entalis.  He  was  already  in  the  Oceanus  Orientalis.  He  was  seeking  the  seaway 
between  the  mainland  of  Asia  and  the  Terra  Sancta  Cruets  or  Mundus  Novus  by 
which  he  might  sail  into  the  Indian  Ocean  and  so  reach  the  Sinus  Magnus,  the 
Spice  Islands,  the  Aurea  Chersonesus,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges  River.  While 
in  Veragua  he  was  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  peninsula  enclosing  the  Sinus  Magnus 
to  the  east,  not  very  distant  from  Catigara.  The  two  sides  of  this  peninsula  bore 
the  same  relation  to  each  other  as  Venice  and  Pisa94  or  Venice  and  Genoa.'5 

The  Roselli  C  map  still  later  in  date  added  a  few  names  to  the  Roselli  B  map, 
omitted  the  island  of  Zipagu  and  placed  the  Terra-San cta-Crucis  much  closer  to  Asia. 
It,  in  common  with  the  Roselli  B  map,  did  not  share  the  Columbian  conception 
as  shown  in  the  1506  Bartholomew  Columbus  map  sketches  that  the  Mundus 
Novus  was  a  part  of  Asia's  mainland. 

The  various  methods  of  presentation  of  the  relation  of  the  Trans-Atlantic 
countries  to  the  Behaim  lands  of  eastern  Asia  makes  fairly  evident  that  the  carto- 
graphers were  all  agreed  in  regarding  the  Trans-Atlantic  countries  as  a  part  of 
Asia.  They  had  eight  different  ways  of  showing  it.  The  root  of  the  difficulty  lay 
in  the  unwillingness  to  abandon  the  Ptolemy  degree  value  for  the  Columbian  and 
yet,  without  doing  that  very  thing,  there  was  no  satisfactory  way  of  representing 
the  Columbian  discoveries  as  a  part  of  Asia.  Of  these  various  methods,  the  Wald- 
seemuller  plan  offered  the  most  satisfactory  results  until  more  knowledge  was 


94  R.  H.  Major:  Select  Letters  of  Christopher  Columbus,  2nd  ed.,  p.  182.  Columbus  letter  from  Jamaica,  7th  July  1503. 

95  Peter  Martyr:  De  Orbe  Novo,  McNutt  ed.  Vol.  I,  p.  330,  also  see  Vol.  I,  p.  271. 

27 


THE  SCHONER  GLOBES 

available.  That  is  probably  the  reason  why  more  of  the  Waldseemuller  type  of 
map  than  of  any  other  remain  to  this  day. 

After  the  Columbus  fourth  voyage  the  rivalry  of  Spain  and  Portugal  to  secure 
possession  of  the  Spice  Islands  was  the  motive  of  many  expeditions.  During  the 
years  of  this  rivalry  a  third  concept  of  longitudes  and  consequently  of  the  size  of 
the  earth  developed, — that  of  the  Portuguese.  We  can  trace  the  development  of 
the  concept  only  indistinctly  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress  of  Badajoz."  The 
Portuguese  king  ordered  the  pilots  to  alter  the  charts  of  the  route  to  the  Indies,  as 
the  Spanish  delegates  charged,  in  order  to  place  the  Spice  Islands  within  the 
Portuguese  sphere.  The  Portuguese  adopted  the  degree  value  of  70  miles  to  an 
equatorial  degree,  each  mile  of  which  was  slightly  longer  than  the  Italian  nautical 
mile.  Then  there  was  the  Columbian  degree  of  56  2/3  Italian  nautical  miles,  the 
Ptolemy  of  62^  or,  according  to  some,  66  2/3  Italian  nautical  miles,97  and  the 
Portuguese  one  of  over  70. 

The  Portuguese  views  and  degree  values  appear  on  a  map  known  as  the 
Munich-Portuguese  map98  between  1516  and  1520,  in  which  the  Trans-Atlantic 
countries  are  separated  from  eastern  Asia  by  a  great  interval.  However  the 
unexplored  coasts  are  not  laid  down  according  to  any  theory  as  was  the  custom  on 
the  earlier  maps.  Therefore  we  cannot  say  what  was  the  view  held  by  this  particular 
cartographer  as  to  whether  America  was  or  was  not  a  part  of  Asia. 

Magellan's  voyage  brought  about  a  simplification  in  some  respects.  The 
enormous  distance  across  the  Pacific  revealed  by  him  practically  forced  the  aband- 
onment of  the  Columbian  degree  value.  Thereupon  the  Spanish  fell  back  upon  the 
Ptolemaic99  standard.  Meanwhile,  the  Portuguese  had  gone  over  from  the  Ptole- 
maic measure  to  their  own  measure,100  very  nearly  the  one  held  today.  Therefore, 
there  still  existed  between  the  Spanish  and  the  Portuguese  longitudes  nearly  the 
same  difference,  about  50  degrees,  that  had  existed  in  the  days  of  Columbus' 
discovery  between  the  followers  of  Columbus  and  the  Ptolemists. 

In  Germany,  Johann  Schoner  compromised  the  Columbian  and  the  Ptolemy- 
Behaim  concepts,  both  of  which  he  had  exhibited  on  his  1515  and  1520  globes, 
after  the  Waldseemuller  pattern.  He  made  a  new  globe101  in  1523.  This  was  lost 
for  a  long  time  but  recently  has  been  satisfactorily  identified102  and  published  by 
Dr.  F.  Wieder.  We  have  had,  however,  two  articles  from  the  pen  of  Schoner 
concerning  this  map  that  are  extremely  significant  in  regard  to  the  geographical 
concepts  noted  above.    One  is  his  letter  to  Reymer  von  Streytpergk103  in  1523.    In 

96  M.  F.  de  Navarrete:  Coleccion  de  los  Viages,  etc.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  301-371,  ibid,  p.  344-348  and  352. 

97  J.  T.  Reinaud  and  Stanilaus  Guyard  trans.  Geographie  d'Aboulfeda,  Vol.  I,  Introduction,  pp.  CCLXIX-CCLXXII1. 

98  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Typical  Early  Maps  of  the  New  World,  Bui.  Am.  Geog.  Soc.  April  1907,  p.  210. 

99  M.  F.  de  Navarrete:  Coleccion  de  los  Viages,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  339  and  354. 
'0°  Ibid,  Vol.  IV,  p.  344. 

101  Dr.  F.  Wieder  Monumenta  Cartographica,  Vol.  I,  plates  I-III. 

102  George  E.  Nunn:  The  Lost  Globe  Gores  of  Johann  Schoner  1523-1524,  A  Review  in  the  Geog.  Review,  Vol.  XVII, 
No.  3,  July  1927.  For  another  opinion  see  also  Geog.  Journ.,  Feb.  1928.  Monumenta  Cartographica:  Review,  E.  G.  R.  T., 
pp.  186-188. 

103  Henry  Stevens  of  Vermont:  Johann  Schoner,  etc.,  p.  99. 

28 


THE  SCHONER  GLOBES 

this  letter  Schoner  said,  "Being  desirous  to  make  some  small  addition  to  this 
wonderful  survey  of  the  earth  so  that  what  appears  very  extraordinary  to  the 
reader  may  appear  more  likely,  when  thus  illustrated,  I  have  been  at  the  pains  to 
construct  this  globe,  having  copied  a  very  accurate  one  which  an  ingenious  Spaniard 
has  sent  to  a  person  of  distinction.  I  do  not  however  wish  to  set  aside  the  globe  I 
constructed  some  time  ago,  as  it  fully  showed  all  that  had,  at  that  time,  been 
discovered;  so  that  the  former,  as  far  as  it  goes,  agrees  with  the  latter," 

Schoner  partially  described  this  globe  in  his  Opusculum  Geographicum.104 
From  this  we  know  that  he  made  South  America  a  peninsula  of  Asia  and  Mexico 
City  was  identified  with  Marco  Polo's  Quinsay.  Schoner  made  his  compromise  of 
the  Columbian  and  Behaim  geography  on  the  basis  of  the  discoveries  of  Magellan 
and  Cortes.  The  longitudes  of  Ptolemy-Behaim  were  adopted  to  the  exclusion 
of  those  of  Columbus  but  the  Columbian  lands  were  made  a  part  of  Asia.  The 
Mondus  Novus  was  made  a  peninsula  replacing  the  Behaim  Catigara-Moabar 
peninsula.  The  Sinus  Magnus  was  widened  and  was  renamed  the  Mar  de  Sur, 
Cipango  disappeared  as  a  separate  identity  as  on  the  Waldseemiiller  maps,  and  was 
accepted  as  the  island  of  Espanola  according  to  the  Columbian-Ruysch  hypothesis. 
Then  Florida  and  the  Cabot-Corte  Real  country  were  added  as  a  foreland  to  the 
Behaim  eastern  Asia.105  In  other  words  Schoner  combined  as  one,  Waldseemuller's 
two  eastern  Asias  as  drawn  on  his  1507  map. 

There  is  a  whole  school  ,06  of  maps  that  follow  down  to  about  1550,  this  con- 
cept of  Schoner;  it  was  this  concept  that  was  accepted  by  Las  Casas  when  he 
wrote  his  Historia  de  los  Indias.107  It  was  apparently  the  concept  shared  by 
Hernando  de  Soto108  and  Coronado'09  when  they  explored  the  southern  portion  of 
the  United  States. 

Parallel  with  the  Schoner  1523  type  of  map  there  was  another  to  which  the 
Ribero110  maps  belong.  These  maps  were  probably  based  on  the  Padron  Real  of 
the  Casa  de  Contratacion.  They  are  characterized  by  the  omission  of  unexplored 
coasts  and  are  in  every  way  much  superior  to  the  work  of  the  geographers  of  Italy 
and  Germany. 

However,  these  maps  do  not  seem  to  be  in  conflict  with  the  concept  of  the 
Schoner  1523  map,  because  the  Sebastian  Cabot  map  unquestionably  belongs  to 
the  Ribero  type  and  it  is  also  certainly  derived  from  Cabot,  who  was  pilot  major 


104  Henry  Harrisse:  The  Discovery  of  North  America,  pp.  524-525. 

105  Dr.  F.  Wieder:  Monumenta  Cartographica,  Vol.  I,  plates  I— III. 

106  Franciscus  Monachus  map,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Periplus,  p.  98;  Orontius  Finaeus  map  of  1531,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold 
Facsimile  Atlas,  plate  XLI;  Paris  wooden  globe,  H.  Harrisse:  The  Discovery  of  North  America,  p.  613;  Paris  gilt  globe,  H. 
Harrisse:  The  Discovery  of  North  America,  p.  562;  Johann  Schoner  globe  1533,  H.  Harrisse:  The  Discovery  of  North  America, 
p.  520;  Nancy  gilt  globe,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus,  p.  159;  British  Museum  Ms.  map,  E.  L.  Stevenson:  Typical  Early 
Maps,  etc.,  Bui.  Am.  Geog.  Soc,  April  1907,  p.  222;  Hieronymo  Girava  map  1556,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold  Facsimile  Atlas, 
plate  XLV;  Gastaldi  map  1562,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus,  p.  165. 

107  B.  de  Las  Casas:  Historia  de  los  Indias,  Vol.  I,  pp.  279  and  315,  Vol.  II,  pp.  205  and  465,  Vol.  V,  p.  329  and  pp. 
371-376. 

108  w_  b.  Rye:  The  Discovery  and  Conquest  of  Terra  Florida,  pp.  11-14. 

109  G.  P.  Winship:  The  Coronado  Expedition.  Ann.  Rept.  Bur.  of  Amer.  Ethnology  for  1892-3,  pp.  512-3,  525-6  and  539. 

110  Turin  Spanish  map  1523-5;  Salviati  map  1525-30;  Wolfenbtittel-Spanish  map  1527;  Weimar  Spanish  map  1527  and 
Ribero  1529;  E.  L.  Stevenson;  Maps  Illustrating  Early  Discovery  and  Exploration  in  America.  Alonzo  de  Santa  Cruz  map 
1542,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Periplus,  plate  L;  Sebastian  Cabot  map  1544. 

29 


CONCLUSION 

of  Spain.  The  connection  with  the  Schoner  maps  is  betrayed  by  the  inscription, 
Terra  Incognita,  placed  across  the  map  between  Cathay  and  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  river.  In  addition,  the  Grand  Khan  was  pictured  seated  in  a  tent 
out  in  what  was  otherwise  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Soon  after  the  middle  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  a  new  conception  of  the  re- 
lation of  America  to  Asia  began  to  displace  the  Schoner  1523  conception.  The  two 
regions  were  separated  by  the  mythical  strait  of  Anian.  The  Ortelius111  map 
illustrates  this  latter  theory.  The  question  of  the  connection  of  Asia  and  America 
however  remained  unsolved  until,  as  noted  above,  the  explorations  of  Vitus  Bering 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  Bering  Strait. 


1,1  Ortelius  oval  map  of  the  world  1570,  A.  E.  Nordenskiold:  Facsimile  Atlas,  plate  XLVI. 


30 


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